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COPYRIGHT DEPOSE 



BOOKS BY S. S. CURRY, Ph.D., Litt.D. 

More than any man of recent years, Dr. Curry has represented sane and 
scientific methods in training the Speaking Voice.— Dr. Shailer Mathews, 
University of Chicago. 

Of eminent value.— Dr. Lyman Abbott. 

Books so much needed by the world and which will not be written unless 
you write them.— Rev. C. H. Strong, Rector St. John's Church, Savannah. 

Foundations Of Expression. A psychological method of developing 

■ ; reading and speaking. 236 practical 

problems. 411 choice passages adapted to classes in reading and speaking. 
$1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

Lessons in Vocal Expression. The expressive modulations of the 

■ voice developed by studying and 
training the voice and mind in relation to each other. Definite problems and 
progressive steps. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

Imagination and Dramatic Instinct. Function of imagination 

" and assimilation in the 

vocal interpretation of literature and speaking. $1.50; to teachers, $1.20, 
postpaid. 

Mind and Voice. Principles and Methods in Vocal Training. 456 pp. 
'■ $1.50; to teachers, $1.20 postpaid. 

Browning and the Dramatic Monologue. Nature and pecu- 

iii liarities of Brown- 

ing's poetry. Principles involved in rendering the monologue. Introduction to 
Browning, and to dramatic platform art. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

Province Of Expression. Principles and Methods of developing de- 
. livery. An introduction to the study of 

natural languages, and their relation to art and development. $1.50; to teachers 
$1.20, postpaid. 

Vocal and Literary Interpretation of the Bible, introduc- 

■ i i tion by 

Prof. Francis G. Peabody, D. D., of Harvard University. $1.50; students' 
edition, $0.60, postpaid. 

Classics for Vocal Expression. Gems from the best authors for 

__ ... voice and interpretation. In use 

in the foremost schools and colleges. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

Spoken English. A psychological method of developing reading, con- 

_____ _- — . — — — — versation and speaking. A book for junior students or 

teachers. 320 pages. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

Little Classics for Oral English. Companion to Spoken Eng- 
■ hsh. Introductory questions 

and topics. May be used with Spoken English or separately. Questions and 
topics correspond. Fresh and beautiful selections from best authors. 384 
pages. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

The Smile. Introduction to action through an example. $1.00. To mem- 
l ' i bers of The Morning League, $0.75, postpaid. 

How to Add Ten Years to Your Life. Nature of training with 

., .i ■ short, practical program. 

$1.00. To members of The Morning League, $0.75, postpaid. 

Write to Dr. Curry about the Morning League; Summer Terms; Home 
Studies; School of Expression; new books, or for advice regarding your life 
work. Address: Book Department, School of Expression, 308 Pierce Bldg., 
Copley Square, Boston, Mass. 



THE SMILE 

IF YOU CAN DO NOTHING ELSE 
YOU CAN SMILE 



BY 

S. S. CURRY 



/ 



Smile awhile, 

And while you smile, 

Another smiles, 

And soon there's miles 

And miles of smiles, 

And life's worth while 

Because you smile. 

Author not known to me. 



SCHOOL OF EXPRESSION 

Book Department, Copley Square 
BOSTON 



&$ 



Copyright 

by 

S. S. CURRY 

1915 



©CI.A411225 

AUG 27 1915 4 



To Those Who 

By Loyal Thought, Word or Deed 

Have Founded 

The School of Expression. 



One lifted a stone from my rocky road, 
One carried awhile my heavy load, 
One lifted his candle when all was dark, 
One heard the song of the morning lark; 
A look, and I knew a brother was near, 
Only a smile, but it banished my fear. 
Ah ! little you thought of the help you gave 
But the little you did was mighty to save! 



Also to Those Who 

By Look, Smile or — in any Way 

Will Aid 

In Giving to the School a Permanent Home. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Foreword 5 

I. Our First Expression 9 

II. Qualities of Expression 24 

III. The Expressive Process 32 

IV. Smile or Scowl 35 

V. Smile or Frown 40 

VI. Sign or Symbol 47 

VII. Man's Elemental Languages 50 

VIII. Does a Smile Represent or Manifest? ... 57 

IX. Gesture, Position or Bearing 62 

X. The Smile and Beauty 72 

XI. Can the Smile Be Developed? ..... 77 

XII. Modes of Improving the Smile ..... 90 

XIII. The Smile as an Educational Aid .... 107 

XIV. Negative or Positive? 115 

XV. The Smile and Health 118 

XVI. Ethics of Amusement 122 

XVII. The Smile and Success .135 

XVIII. Higher Functions and Influences .... 138 

A Personal Afterword 146 



FOREWORD 

Most people, even orators and actors, have 
peculiar conceptions, not to say misconceptions, 
of action as a language. 

One proof of this is found in the fact that the 
word " gesture," which names the least important 
of all phases of action, is the common name ap- 
plied by most people to all the expressive move- 
ments, attitudes and bearings of the body. 

The ordinary person has about as clear an im- 
pression of what pantomimic expression means 
as the little girl who was asked to define the word 
" chivalry " and said it was what she felt when 
she was cold. 

To me action is man's first language and the 
one primarily concerned in the revelation of 
character. Action, however, is a subject as diffi- 
cult to discuss as it is to understand. It can 
never be explained and taught as other subjects. 

John Stuart Mill said that one who knows but 
a single language is apt to take words for things. 
This principle applies more to the primary modes 
of man's expression, words, tones and action as 
different languages, than to Italian and French. 
If to think an idea in French as well as English 
frees a man from confusing an idea with its sym- 
bol and gives him a better understanding of truth, 
how much more will ability to realize the func- 
tion of voice modulations and of the action of the 
body lead to a more adequate realization? Action 
as a language is more distinct in function and 



FOREWORD 



meaning from words than English is from French, 
or French is from German. To be able to think 
the language of action prevents taking a mere 
word or symbol of an idea as a complete expres- 
sion. If this be true, to understand pantomime 
is one of the important phases of education. Ac- 
tion, however, is totally neglected at the present 
time. One reason for this neglect is the difficulty 
of understanding the subject or of even realizing 
its point of view. It has been so long regarded 
as of no importance, as only a kind of decorative 
adjunct without meaning, that it is difficult to 
awaken people to think in action, or to recognize 
it as having a great function in the revelation of 
human experience. 

A realization of our action is necessarily a 
realization of the motives of our lives. It helps us 
to understand our fellow-men and to enter into 
sympathetic touch with them. Not without reason 
does action usually have dramatic as the qualify- 
ing adjective. 

In this little book I have endeavored to talk 
simply with the reader on something that has 
always been a necessary part of himself, some- 
thing that he must practise every hour, not to say 
every moment of his life, — something we all prac- 
tise, most of us thoughtlessly, even chaotically. 

Some readers may object to the disconnected 
character of the book, but right or wrong, the in- 
tention has been to drop only a hint here and 
there. The subject is too large for exhaustive 
treatment. The peculiar nature of the subject 
also prevents its adequate treatment in words. A 
mere intimation to stimulate observation of self 
and others seems almost the only method of dis- 
cussing it. What is said in the book is less im- 



FOREWORD 



portant than what it aims to lead the reader to 
find for himself. 

Verbal explanations of art must be given out- 
side of its temple. Everyone one must go alone 
into the sacred threshold and catch a vision for 
himself. A teacher can only inspire and awaken 
expectations and point out the door. Criticisms 
of poetry are only valuable when on the poetic 
plane. Explanations of pictures or statues or 
music are helpful only when they indicate points 
of view. 

In the same way action as a language is so dis- 
tinct from words that it can never be explained 
by mere writing. Has there ever been a phrase so 
pointed, so fine, as to translate a smile? 

One reason why action is such an important 
element in education is the fact that it gives the 
human mind such a different point of view. If 
we can understand the differences between our 
own primary languages, words, tones and action, 
we are prepared in almost the only way possible to 
appreciate the fact that every art is a language, a 
peculiar language which can never be translated 
into any other art. If an art does not say some- 
thing that no other art can say it is not an art at 
all. A man of culture is a man who can read all 
of the artistic languages of his race. 

The reader may console himself that the book 
is not more broken. In writing it I tried to intro- 
duce certain hints that would spontaneously cause 
a smile in order that the reader might have an 
example involuntarily awakened for his observa- 
tion. A friend of mine who looked over the 
copy protested that these humorous attempts 
were undignified so I have made many modifica- 
tions. 



FOREWORD 



Seriously, the real continuity and theme of the 
book must be felt through observation of life. 

One of my friends wrote regarding my " Brown- 
ing and the Dramatic Monologue " : " Here is 
another book by Curry, explaining the obvious." 
If to him " Browning " was as obvious as Mother 
Goose, what will he say if he happens to look 
through this? He will no doubt be reminded of 
Ben King's poem 

"Nothing to breathe but air, 
Quick as a flash 'tis gone; 
Nowhere to fall but off, 
Nowhere to stand but on." 

One of Ben King's most intimate friends, who 
was with him when he wrote this said to him, 
"It is too silly to be anything but ridiculous." 
Still, how many thousands have read the poem 
with delight. 

If the reader will not reject the book but begin 
a closer observation of self and others, perhaps he 
may catch a hint of something he has not thought 
of before, and may find a key to some of the pe- 
culiar movements in our time, and to a better 
understanding of himself. 

At any rate, it is an honest endeavor to furnish 
a key to self-study, self-control, and a help to a 
truer realization of the point of view of other peo- 
ple. These are most important factors in success. 
Moreover it is written to aid an undertaking, 
which to the writer is important. If, perchance, 
the fact that it is a gift to an institution be of in- 
terest to the reader he is asked not to skip the 
afterword. 



THE SMILE 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 

" Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown; 
With that wild wheel we go not up or down; 
Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great. 

" Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands 
Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands; 
For man is man and master of his fate." 

From " Geraint and Enid " Tennyson. 

A Black Forest tradition considers it a good 
omen if both father and mother are present when 
their child first smiles. According to Delsarte, a 
smile is the first conscious expression of a human 
being. 

Some close observers tell us that the smile is 
also the last expression that is left upon the human 
countenance. Who has not heard, a few hours 
after death, someone remark, " How pleasant 
the face looks!" 

Even when death has been painful, after a few 
hours the contortions disappear, and the most 
important element of the smile is seen about the 
outer corners of the eyes. After about twenty- 
four hours the muscles begin to lose their activity, 
but the last expressive attitude to vanish is the 
primary element of a smile. 

9 



10 THE SMILE 



So the first conscious awakening and the last 
good-bye of the spirit are expressed by a smile. 

The smile is the acceptance of life. It is a 
coming into sympathetic touch with others, the 
first thanksgiving for service rendered, the first 
recognition by the little child of the love of its 
mother. It marks the awakening of the inner 
life, the first conscious joy. A man smiles when 
he discovers that power is inborn, when he comes 
to know that he has been weak because he looked 
for power outside of himself. 

The smile is embodied in the highest poetry of 
the race. All myths of morning embody the 
smile, — Daphne, the rosy-fingered Aurora, and 
Athena born from a stroke of fire on the forehead 
of the sky — all reflect the smile. 

In the best Greek art, the smile, kind and 
sincere, almost unseen, is held by all as the 
deepest expression of the Greek idea of Deity. 

Primitive peoples, living near the heart of 
nature, have always felt that the smile has great 
significance. 

In the centre of New England is a great lake 
containing over three hundred islands. The 
Indians looked down upon it from the Red Hill or 
from the height of Ossippee and called it Winne- 
pesaukee, the " smile of the Great Spirit." Happy 
were those Indians who caught the first expression 
of the Infinite and Eternal Goodness, an expres- 
sion of which Plato caught a glimpse, the expres- 
sion which all good and great men have felt as 
they looked upon the beautiful face of the earth 
and sky. 

It is but a hint of the Infinite and Eternal 
goodness of which the universe is the celebra- 
tion. 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 11 

Why in our day is the smile rarely if ever con- 
sidered seriously? Why is it regarded as a mere 
accident? 

Is it not because all modes of expression are 
neglected except words? 

Since printing was invented, written words 
have been worshipped as about the only lan- 
guage — at least verbal expression is in general 
the only language seriously studied, and in our 
day, even this is usually studied as a mere con- 
vention — as an objective, mechanical thing. 

To the modern scholar, a smile has no meaning 
at all — it is only a vague indefinite sign of physical 
feeling. 

Again and again it has been said by reformers 
that all education is the development of char- 
acter. 

To the ancients, especially the Romans, the 
development of oratory was one of the highest 
phases of education, and Cicero has said, " Oratory 
is a good man speaking well." 

Darwin made a study of expression because the 
actions or elements of the smile seemed to con- 
flict with his hypothesis. His studies of expres- 
sion, however, were confined to animals rather 
than to men. His observations regarding human 
expression were endeavors to identify them with 
animal movements. His attention was always 
fixed, consciously or unconsciously, on his theory 
of natural selection. 

Expression is a necessary part of us. Asleep or 
awake we are always revealing the deep secrets of 
our motives and lives. Expression is the evidence 
to us of the very faculties of our being. 

To improve the smile, one must improve the 
disposition and deepen one's sympathy with 



12 THESMILE 



his fellow-men. It is the character of man that 
makes the smile, and the man himself must be 
improved to improve it. However, there are cer- 
tain things which can be done to the smile directly. 
There is, so to speak, technical training for the 
smile. 

A lawyer recognizes the fact that he must know 
every phase of the law thoroughly, but he rarely 
thinks of his own voice and body, — the tools he 
must use in pleading every case. 

The queen of society gives great care to every 
detail of dress and to her complexion, but rarely 
gives a thought to her voice, and often leaves it 
blotched worse than ink could spot her cheek. 

Even the minister regards his voice and body 
as of little importance compared with a knowledge 
of Arabic or Egyptology. 

Here are the instinctive languages born with 
us all. Why do we despise them? 

Here is a mirror in which all may behold the 
very heart of man, yet how few ever think 
of it! 

In a university, the Department of Astronomy 
is usually the best endowed. Is this because it is 
easier to secure money for the study of something 
that is at a great distance from us? Why are we 
interested in what is far away? Why does the past 
always look brighter than the present? Why do 
some people think that all good things lie only 
in the future or far away? Why is Heaven, by 
many, located in the remotest nook of the uni- 
verse? 

Seemingly, man is more interested in every- 
thing else than he is in himself. The use of a 
child's own face, or body or even speech is about 
the last thing we think of in its education. 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 13 

People recognize the necessity of these simple 
acts of expression, but they feel the necessity 
only through a kind of instinct. When they try 
to understand these things by reasoning, how 
rarely do they show any results of true observa- 
tion — any real grasp of the simplest facts of 
nature. 

O ye, who seek so earnestly to help your fellow- 
men and seem to feel that your efforts are failures, 
look nearer home for the cause. 

O ye, who long with a noble yearning to please 
others, to meet your fellow-men and women and 
to contribute to their happiness, why ask some- 
one, saying, " Look me over. Am I all right? " 

That is well, but why stop there? Why not 
study those deep emotions and their outward 
motions, — those conditions and modes of being 
and those modulations of voice and actions of 
body which express them? Why neglect those lan- 
guages that speak louder and more continuously, 
and that make a stronger and deeper impression 
than your dress, your hair, or your skin? Why 
not study the qualities of the voice and speech 
that are not external and artificial, but simple 
and true? 

Why not eliminate awkwardness from your 
walk, as well as from your dancing, and the con- 
strictions and affectations from your face and 
body? Why not study the most simple and most 
characteristic actions of the human being? 

In endeavoring to understand something of the 
primary nature of human expression, let us begin 
with a simple example. Without an example, 
you may explain, argue and theorize, and though 
the listener may say that he understands you, he 
will make a remark which shows he totally mis- 



> 



14 THESMILE 



understands your point. An example is especially 
necessary in any subject which is not understood. 
Although expression is natural to us all, it is some- 
thing that is little understood. 

Possibly no subject in the world is so frequently 
misunderstood as man's own simplest modes of 
expression, such as the mobility of his face, the 
simplest movements of his body — their nature, 
their cause and importance in the development of 
his character. 

And what is the best example? 

From whatever point of view we study it, the 
smile seems to be the simplest and best specimen 
for our observation. It is not only first, it is com- 
mon to the human race. Every human being 
smiles and is pleased to meet a smile. 

The smile is distinctive of the human being. 
The horse and cow, it is true, can show their 
pleasure to a limited extent. The cat and more 
particularly the dog can use the tail as a means 
of expression. But only man can smile. 

If a man could be found who had never smiled, 
he certainly would be a curiosity. 

As an example, therefore, the smile is universal 
and open to everyone for observation, in all of its 
many varieties. 

May we not, reader, you and I together, study 
some of the means other than words by which 
human beings come to understand each other? 

" In each is all." Every true observer has been 
led to recognize that there is a mysterious relation- 
ship everywhere. There is a oneness pervading 
all objects — all life. 

It is this unity, possibly, which has caused man 
to invent the word " universe." 

We find this co-operation present in exact 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 15 

proportion to the presence of life. The higher 
any organism, the greater the unity — the higher 
the race of beings, the more it seems akin to 
everything else. 

Everywhere we seem to find a few basic prin- 
ciples which are universal. 

Accordingly, a true example enables us to look 
into the very heart of a subject. How quickly 
does it clear up confusion and help one to see what 
before was hard to understand ! 

Tennyson's shortest poem, which is possibly his 
greatest and most significant illustrates this law. 

" Flower in the crannied wall, 

I pluck you out of the crannies; — 

Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 

Little flower; — but if I could understand 

What you are, root and all, and all in all, 

I should know what God and man is." 

Some scientists try to find the elements of an 
incipient smile in the monkey; I myself have 
watched a monkey alone for a long time and tried 
in every way to discover some faint trace of a 
smile. Either I was blind or I totally misunder- 
stood the animal's grimaces. This monkey was un- 
usually intelligent. He had been trained to open 
a box. This box was given to a university pres- 
ident to open and it took him thirty minutes; it 
took the monkey only five minutes ; so its trainers 
boasted that this monkey could outdo a college 
president. 

Accordingly I went in with great expectations. 
I was alone with the monkey. He regarded me 
with curiosity. I tried every trick and cut up all 
kinds of " monkey shines." I think my perform- 
ance would have " made a horse laugh," but that 



16 THESMILE 



monkey sat up there and many " a ghastly wink 
he wunk " but not " a sickly smile he smole." 

Hence, I can see no reason for doubting the 
old Greek definition of man, as " the animal that 
laughs." 

The question, however, whether animals can 
smile, has nothing to do with the present dis- 
cussion. The theme before us is the smile of the 
human being, its nature and importance, its uses 
in human life, how we can improve it, or how we 
can use it as a means of improving ourselves. 

One other question, it will be noticed, will be 
carefully avoided. Namely, the cause of the 
smile. Some of the most serious books in the 
language, some of the driest, some that never 
can awaken a smile, have been devoted to the 
question, " What is the cause of laughter? " 
Books discussing wit and humor are notoriously 
lacking in that which is discussed. They bring 
yawns but who ever heard of one awakening a 
smile unless it be one of derision? They certainly 
do not teach by example. 

Several objectors rise as a matter of course. 

" The smile," says one, " is the most affected 
action of a human being. As long as the smile is 
unconscious, involuntary, it is all right but as 
soon as one thinks about it, or studies it, it be- 
comes artificial and affected." 

" Observe the smile of many men in business. 
It is affected, it never changes, it is the same for 
everybody." 

" Observe many society people ; they have a 
smile which they put on when they go out to call 
and a special Sunday face that they wear to 
church. Many teachers have a professional 
smile. Speakers, lecturers and even actors wear 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 17 

a certain smile as a conventional part of their 
make-up." 

All this is very true, and much more might be 
said. The finest things, however, those that are 
most natural, most beautiful, have been most per- 
verted, and the very fact that the perversion of the 
smile is one of the worst things in human expres- 
sion, only proves its importance. The fact that 
the smile must be spontaneous and free, that it 
cannot be affected nor arranged by rule nor 
adjusted by imitation, is true of all modes of 
natural expression. 

In these very objections is found the typical 
character of the smile and the necessity that its 
nature and qualities should be observed. 

The fact that we can get at it only indirectly, 
for the most part, brings up one of the greatest 
problems in human education. Perhaps we might 
learn from a study of the smile certain great 
lessons in human development which are often 
overlooked. 

It is not true that the smile is superficial. It 
reveals most definitely and adequately the attitude 
of a human being. The greater the man, the 
greater and more wonderful his smile. The 
deeper, the broader the human sympathy, the 
more it is shown by the human countenance. 

Another objector speaks up and says, " The 
smile is vague and indefinite. You can smile a 
thousand different ways ; not one of them has any 
distinct meaning." 

It will be granted that there are innumerable 
smiles, — the sarcastic smile, the sneering smile, 
the incredulous smile, the approving smile, the 
critical smile ; but the meaning of the smile is not 
vague or accidental. 



18 THESMILE 



Everyone can at once recognize the difference 
between a sarcastic smile and a genuine smile; 
between the smile of love and the smile of hate; 
the smile of incredulity and the smile of confi- 
dence; the patronizing smile and the affected 
smile; and a hundred other species. Under them 
all, human instinct recognizes a normal smile and 
measures others by this ideal. The very perver- 
sion of the smile depends for its meaning upon a 
universal conception of a true smile. 

There is a normal smile and we know it as we 
know that truth is truth. 

Some critics say we do not know a truth when 
we meet it, but we do know a truth as we know 
light from darkness. Among the innumerable 
perversions of beauty, love, and truth it is aston- 
ishing how universal is the fundamental concep- 
tion of right and beauty, and this is still more 
true of the realization of the fundamental smile, 
a smile that really is unperverted, uncontaminated 
by any mixture, a smile that expresses joy and love. 

The smile of everyone in the universe is dif- 
ferent from that of everyone else, and yet all 
have the same fundamental, distinctive elements 
in common, and everyone recognizes a true smile 
and its meaning. 

" Oh," you say, " the smile is such a small, 
such an insignificant thing." 

It may be small but it is not insignificant. What 
do you mean by significance? The word comes 
from " sign." A thing is significant in proportion 
as it stands for something beyond itself, as it 
suggests some meaning. 

Significance is almost synonymous with ex- 
pression. A word, an action, or a voice modulation 
is expressive in proportion as it is significant. An 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 19 

act is expressive in proportion as it signifies some- 
thing. 

There can be no worse mistake than making 
the word " insignificant " synonymous with 
" small," or confusing significance with bigness. 
A turn of the palm upward may mean heaven; a 
turn of it downward may mean the other place. 
The simplest expansion of the body may mean 
courage; the shrinking of the chest may mean 
surrender. 

" The Kingdom of God cometh not with observa- 
tion." No great art work, no great truth, no great 
deed comes with show. The real significant things 
are all small. It is the big things, the showy 
things that are insignificant. 

One man went up to the top of a hill to pray for 
rain and another went up to eat and drink. It is 
of very little consequence, you say, that one man 
went up to dinner and the other went up to pray, 
but all their lives Elijah and Ahab were doing 
these two things. 

In all history the smallest act, that which seemed 
to most people the least significant, has caused a 
great war or ended one or prevented one. A 
statesman's word to the ambassador of a foreign 
country, " Among friends there is no last word," 
may or may not have prevented a war, but in the 
history of the race, such kindly remarks, simple 
as they may seem, have warded off the greatest 
catastrophes. 

The mistake of considering little things as 
unimportant is close to the universal mistake re- 
garding the lack of importance of the simpler acts 
of expression in general. " We are too apt to 
assume," says Ex-President Taft, " that manners 
are nothing but the surface of life, that they really 



20 THESMILE 



don't enter into what constitutes the real things of 
existence. In this we make a profound error. We 
forget that life is not made up of great crises, and 
that the sterner virtues are not constantly called 
into operation. Home life is not full of grand- 
stand plays. The happiness of those with whom 
we have to do is very seldom affected by events of 
capital importance. Our day-to-day pursuit of 
happiness is colored and influenced and crowned 
by the little things, by the smaller amenities or 
the absence of them in dealing with our fellow- 
beings." 

What is it that makes significance? The pri- 
mary question is whether an act is accidental or 
fundamental. Fundamentals are few, while ac- 
cidental things are practically innumerable. 

The hand became such from the necessity of 
executing a few primary movements, yet it can 
perform a thousand actions of secondary impor- 
tance. 

There are a few movements of the foot which are 
fundamental and necessary to expression, yet a 
man can move his feet in a thousand ways which 
have no real significance. 

The human head can roll around in a great num- 
ber of ways, yet very few of these movements have 
necessary significance; but when they are under 
his control, then the man has power. 

Therefore a few fundamental actions are the 
basis of all bodily expression. 

If these are right the innumerable accidental or 
secondary actions will be right. If the elementals 
are wrong or weak the accidentals will necessarily 
be perverted. The true method of improving ex- 
pression depends upon an understanding of these 
elemental actions and their development. 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 21 

An expansion of the torso when properly co- 
ordinated with certain contractions of the balls of 
the feet, is a part of the expression of uprightness. 
This is a fundamental characteristic of man. 
" Man," said Sir William Turner, " is the only 
animal with a vertical spine." If this is true, then 
the counterpoise curves of the spine must be of 
fundamental importance. 

A great many gymnastic exercises, instead of 
developing these curves, actually destroy them. 
Games throw the man into a thousand different 
attitudes. He may work for years to master some- 
thing that is merely accidental to human nature, 
some exhibitional feat which actually destroys the 
grace of his movements and may even tend to 
shorten his life. 

On the other hand, he who studies the few 
fundamental normal actions of the human body 
and develops them will not only secure grace and 
power of expression, but may add years to his life. 

When a man's courage wakens, when he be- 
comes conscious that he is really an expression of 
infinite life, his body straightens in obedience to 
the active will. Then the smile follows as the 
ultimate expression of dignity, power and self- 
control. 

The smile, simple as it is, is a fundamental 
human expression, revealing a person's motives 
and his attitude toward life. 

Let no man, therefore, sneer at the smile be- 
cause it is apparently commonplace and seemingly 
insignificant. 

A smile indicates the incipient loss of faith in 
extravagance and mere feats of exhibition. When 
we begin to see things in their proper perspective, 
when we begin to recognize ourselves as we really 



22 THESMILE 



are, and come into truer relations with our fellow- 
men, we instinctively greet the new revelation 
with a welcoming smile. 

We learn to recognize the really good man by 
the character of his smile. 

Look into the face of a great man. The greater 
the man, the deeper his smile; the more it has of 
the simplicity of the little child, the more it is filled 
with something of its primitive meaning. A true, 
genuine smile seems to flow all over the face. 

When Phillips Brooks smiled, his countenance 
seemed transfigured. A newspaper reporter once 
wrote of him: "Phillips Brooks passed through 
Pie Alley to-day and the place was bathed in sun- 
shine for half an hour." 

In the smile of Professor Charles Eliot Norton 
was a sort of scintillation — a number of scintilla- 
tions—a general undulation that quickly ran all 
over his forehead and the place where there had 
once been hair, back into where there was hair, 
and was lost like jolly young children scampering 
into a wood. 

I saw Gladstone's smile but once, and that from 
the gallery of the House of Commons ; but even the 
memory of it comes with something of the effect of 
an electric current. 

And who would dare undertake to express the 
smile of Emerson or the benignant Jove-like beam 
on the face of Bronson Alcott? 

Greatness has always seemed most great in the 
smile, but if one would understand the smile, and 
realize anything of its expressive power, he must 
observe it in all classes of men. There are smiles 
that are never doubted by a man's fellow-beings. 

Let us, then, study the smile to find something 
of the general characteristics and importance of 



OUR FIRST EXPRESSION 



human expression, its primary laws, its value in 
revealing the spirit of human art and the nature of 
the process of developing character, its intimation 
of the meaning of the universe and the ultimate 
destiny of life. 



n 

QUALITIES OF EXPRESSION 

The smile as a simple and elementary expres- 
sion embodies certain characteristics which be- 
long to all expression, — from the most childlike 
recital to the most finished oration, from the sim- 
plest song to the sublimest epic, from the simplest 
illustration to the most exalted painting, from the 
humblest memorial to the grandest monument. 

Therefore as a human act which is easily stud- 
ied, it enables a careful student to observe the 
nature and character of the universal laws of all 
expression and all art. 

The study of the smile will show us, for one 
thing, that expression is not intrinsically a physical 
thing, — that it transcends the merely physical. 
There is no such thing as " physical expression." 

Expression is a revelation of mind dominating 
the body — revealing itself through the body as a 
medium. 

Expression has aptly been called " the motion 
of emotion." Purely volitional movements are 
not necessarily expressive. Our word " emotion " 
is so named because it gives rise to motion. 

As a consequence of its mental character, the 
smile acts from within outward. The least ob- 
servation shows us the general application of this 
fact. A universal fact has been called a law. 
Accordingly this is a general law of all natural 
expression. 

24 



QUALITIES OF EXPRESSION 25 

The flower blooms from within. The leaves of 
the tree are the " outerance," or (as we contract 
the word) utterance or expression of life emanating 
from the root. 

The bird sings from a full heart and the kitten 
plays because of an exuberance of life. 

Whatever is natural acts from an inner fullness 
and inner depth of life. The general term for this 
law is " spontaneity." The animal moves from 
within — a machine is actuated from without. 

A human being is a wonderful co-ordination of 
spontaneous and deliberative elements. The 
deliberatives are greatly overestimated, the use 
of them makes a man a machine, and again, a man 
is mechanical in proportion to his suppression of 
the spontaneous and the exaggeration of the 
deliberative elements. 

On the other hand, a man is impulsive and 
chaotic when he suppresses the deliberative and re- 
lies entirely upon the spontaneous. A perfect man 
must have both elements in sympathetic union. 

In an endeavor to develop expression I have 
come upon what to me has been a most important 
principle. We can direct our attention to funda- 
mental acts making them more deliberative and 
conscious, thus increasing their vigor and intensity, 
and in this way we indirectly stimulate the sponta- 
neous elements. The fundamental elements 
seem to be intended to be deliberative and volun- 
tary and conscious. The secondary elements are 
necessarily more spontaneous. In this way we can 
bring into co-ordination all the spontaneous and 
deliberative elements in human nature. This 
prevents the man from being artificial or mechan- 
ical on the one hand, or chaotically impulsive on 
the other. 



26 THESMILE 



In all artistic education, or the development of 
man's appreciation of the best in literature and 
art, in making a speaker, reader, or artist of any 
kind we find such co-ordination necessary. 

There are innumerable or perverted smiles, but 
close examination soon reveals the fact that the 
spontaneous co-ordinate elements are absent. 

The natural man is spontaneous. All external 
action is the expression of the underlying activities 
of nature. 

A smile, like the blooming of a flower or the 
singing of a bird, should be easy and spontaneous. 
A deliberative, labored smile is never genuine. 
The same is true of all expression. 

Exaggeration of the analytic and scientific at the 
expense of natural feeling and creative endeavor, 
is to-day common in nearly every class of educa- 
tional institution. In fact, every modern repres- 
sive method in education, being necessarily cold, 
critical and dry, tends toward the production of 
mere machines. 

What can be less edifying than a deliberate, 
mechanical smile? Nowhere are affectation and 
mere mechanical manipulation more displeasing. 
We encounter all these unpleasant facts in the 
study of laughter. 

A genuine smile is always spontaneous. It is 
something that comes to us. The affected, delib- 
erate, hypocritical smile — all faulty smiles— which 
are usually shown by their one-sidedness, violate 
this law. They do not come from within outward. 
It is difficult to smile deliberatively. We permit 
ourselves to do so. 

Have we then no control over our smiles? On 
the contrary we can cultivate an attitude of mind 
that will bring a smile. We can take the point of 



QUALITIES OF EXPRESSION 27 

view, in looking at any subject, that will awaken a 
smile. Even in the darkest hour we can often look 
at things and see the bright side of the situation 
and smile in the face of the worst difficulties. 

Again the genuine smile is simple. By " sim- 
plicity " is meant the directness between cause and 
effect. Nature has no effect which is exaggerated 
beyond its cause. 

The same is true of the genuine smile. Much 
laughter, as will be shown later, is either forced 
or permitted to explode too quickly. The fruit is 
plucked before it is ripe. The smile should ever 
support and transcend the laugh. 

This law of simplicity is also universal, not only 
obtaining in all nature, but governing all true 
art. 

The simpler language is, the more it expresses. 
The simpler the writer, the simpler the artist, the 
greater is the degree of his manifestation. In fact, 
Professor Norton once said to me, " You can count 
on your fingers the poets and artists of the race 
who have been able to be simple." 

Such are Homer and Phidias. From ^schylus, 
Sophocles and Euripides, the three great trage- 
dians, we can imagine one who could be as simple 
as Homer. Virgil must be reckoned in our list 
because he was able to be so simple in the realm of 
beauty. We must also include Dante. From 
Raphael, Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci 
we must imagine one as we did from the three 
leading Greek tragedians. We must recognize 
them though no one of them could be so simple as 
Dante or Phidias. We must add Cervantes and 
Shakespeare. All other poets and artists stand 
upon a lower level. 

Professor Norton's words made a deep impres- 



28 THESMILE 



sion upon me. The very simplest and most 
elemental acts of men are always most expres- 
sive. 

Another law of expression is repose. Repose 
is not mere stability; certainly not inactivity; 
it is not a lack of power, but a reserve and control 
of power. 

True repose is seen in the eagle on the wing, not 
in the over- fed pig asleep in its sty. It means 
activity at the centre, not at the surface. It means 
possibility of movement and action, — a suggestion 
of what may be done, rather than a direct and 
immediate demonstration. The sense of possi- 
bility transcends the sense of actuality. 

Repose is found in proportion as the attitude 
transcends the emotion, and the bearing trans- 
cends the attitude. Laughter, or a mere sudden 
jerk of the countenance, does not suggest repose; 
but when there is a deep diffusion of feeling all 
over the face and body, when we feel that life is 
kindled within, then we have a sense of power 
and a smile is its expression. 

The smile should be untrammeled. Constric- 
tions of the face may hinder, selfish emotions may 
localize and pervert it, but the smile when sincere, 
flows all over the face, and in fact all over the body. 

If the impression which causes the smile is deep 
enough, it breaks down all barriers, penetrates all 
the hidden organs of the body and stimulates every 
part. 

Again, a smile shows itself to be a true act of 
expression in the fact that there are many simulta- 
neous elements in harmony. The true smile is not 
local. A mere local smile at the corner of the 
mouth is a grin. A genuine smile is indicated by 
certain little wrinkles at the outer corner of the eye 



QUALITIES OF EXPRESSION 29 

especially of the lower eyelid, and by the diffusion 
of life all over the countenance. 

In fact, if we examine the fundamental character 
of a smile, we find it possesses a variety of parts 
simultaneously correlated in a certain unity. 

Usually the term co-ordination refers to a great 
many elements brought into play by one impulse — 
a great many parts moving simultaneously and 
spontaneously from an inward cause. Every true 
expression, therefore, is dependent upon the co- 
ordination of many elements. True expression, 
like life, depends upon a certain organic unity. 

In fact this is the test to apply to the genuineness 
not only of the smile, but of any expression. A 
mere local movement is meaningless, artificial and 
mechanical. Only those expressions which are 
the outward sign of the inward fullness of life 
within are free and spontaneous. 

The whole secret of developing expression, 
according to the methods which have been adopted 
at the School of Expression, is the discovery of 
fundamental actions, conditions and elements 
which are not accidental or superficial, but central, 
those which are distinctive of any agent or any 
function; and also the primary mental actions 
which cause these and which can be so accentuated 
that a great variety of elements are brought into 
higher unity and efficiency. 

The exercise of what is accidental secures only 
weak and inadequate, mechanical and artificial 
results. 

The stimulation, development and exercise of 
the fundamental brings power and naturalness, 
makes the man more a man and gives him con- 
trol of the very fountain head of expression. 

The study of the smile not only reveals co- 



THE SMILE 



r 



ordinations of all parts of the face, but we dis- 
cover deeper co-ordinations in every part of the 
body. Emotion causes a diffusion of activity to the 
most vital parts of man's organism, and brings 
many parts into spontaneous and simultaneous 
activity. 

As has been said, there is a union of the delib- 
erative and the spontaneous. In fact, the sponta- 
neous is always present in all natural expression. 
In all true art the spontaneous is always in the 
ascendancy. 

While we can control the deliberative elements 
only by directing our will, not to accidental but to 
fundamental elements, the spontaneous elements 
are awakened indirectly. 

When the deliberative is directed to the acciden- 
tal, or the external, all is weakness and super- 
ficiality. And yet, in all true expression and art 
it is necessary to arouse the spontaneous elements. 
They can be awakened by directing the delib- 
erative attention to the few fundamental actions 
upon which all expression depends. 

Let us go deeper. A study of laughter shows 
that thinking and feeling are co-ordinate. A 
smile may be controlled, regulated, guided and 
reserved, and at the same time, be easy, sponta- 
neous and free. 

In an uncultured person, as will be shown later, 
mirth breaks out in a sudden guffaw and roar of 
laughter. 

The smile indicates a deep, harmonious union 
and balance of thought and feeling. 

The man is feeling what he thinks and thinking 
what he feels. This balance of the primary 
elements of human nature causes the countenance 
and whole body to unfold like a flower. It makes 



QUALITIES OF EXPRESSION 31 

the smile gradual and gives dignity to the entire 
body. 

Here we find one of the points in favor of the 
importance of expression in education. Expres- 
sion reveals not the degree of information of the 
human mind, but the attitude of soul, the co- 
ordination of the primary elements of man's being. 
One-sided expressions will always show lack of 
co-ordination and unity in being. 

Expression will show whether one is able to 
command the right union of his different powers 
and faculties, and who will deny that these are 
primary elements in the development of human 
character? 






m 

THE EXPRESSIVE PROCESS 

The study of the smile reveals not only the 
qualities, but the very processes of expression. 
How should we produce tone? As easily as we 
smile. 

In the deepest processes of expression, think 
of the way you smile — the ease, simplicity, direct- 
ness and spontaneity. In the same way the singer 
should produce his tone and the speaker use his 
voice. 

Tones become harsh, nasal, throaty, flat and 
unpleasant because of constrictions in the throat 
during the attempts at sound production. You 
would not produce a smile in the same way, nor 
could you. After a study of the co-ordinate laws 
of nature, the discovery of fundamental elements 
and the training of these, the tone will flow as 
easily as the smile and will share the life of the 
soul as does the countenance. 

The same applies to all vocal expression. If 
we concentrate our attention and allow the sponta- 
neous energies of thinking and feeling to dominate 
conversation or reading, then inflection, change of 
pitch, tone-color and movement will begin to 
manifest life, tenderness and sympathy. They 
will reveal our inmost imaginings and truly inter- 
pret our deepest experiences. 

Again, in observing the characteristics of the 
smile, we find in it the basis of the laws of all the 
arts. 

32 



THE EXPRESSIVE PROCESS 33 

The painter will seek and labor for the true 
expression, but at the climax the right element 
seems to come to him; that which gives the true 
expression to his picture seems almost an accident. 
It comes, he hardly knows how or when. 

No true artist paints by rule. 

If a building lacks unity it is unsatisfactory. 
If a statue does not seem as simple, as direct, as 
inevitable an utterance as the smile, it is stiff, 
rigid and mechanical. There is something wrong 
with it. 

A song must be simple. A great poem must 
come forth with all the spontaneity and natural- 
ness of the smile. 

Imagination, in fact all the emotions and higher 
faculties act spontaneously. True animation is 
but the response of our sensibilities to thinking. 
The sharing of all our powers in a simultaneous 
process is what gives human nature its fullness of 
life and energy. 

This unity is a living process of co-ordination 
and will be found a part of our nature. 

The struggle to master the mode of expression 
in any art is necessary, but when the artist has 
done his best, he gives his highest endeavors to 
the great creative impulses that spring up in the 
heart of every individual. 

We are called. Every human being is called, 
every human being is equipped and endowed in 
accordance with the great law of the universe. 
He that is faithful over a few things will become 
ruler in many things. He who smiles receives in 
his soul the fullness of joy and becomes greater 
than he that overcometh a city. 

The study of the smile reveals to us that true 
expression is not primarily physical but mental, — 



34 THESMILE 



a process working from within outward — sponta- 
neous, but with a deliberative element, that is, 
free and not artificial or labored; that it is always 
a co-ordinate union of many elements which can 
never be complete without the genuine action of 
thinking, feeling and imagination, as well as will ; 
that all faculties are in some degree concerned 
in every simple and true act of expression. We 
find this law a universal one. It is a governing 
principle in every art. 

A true picture has all the unity of a smile. We 
must feel in a song the absence of mere mechanical 
performance. We must feel a certain fullness and 
emanation of human expression. 

In performing upon a musical instrument, we 
must lose the sense of the instrument and feel all 
the depth of love, joy and human passion. 

The characteristics or qualities of expression 
are also the characteristics of all great art. Why 
do our art schools so rarely study the smile or any 
action or voice modulation? They merely study 
drawing. This is important, but observation must 
be trained. There must be a knowledge of the 
universal laws of expression in the pupil's own 
face and body. Why endeavor to secure a knowl- 
edge of expression by studying the mere objective 
records found in music, painting and sculpture? 

If all of us understood more thoroughly the 
meaning of our simplest movements, men would 
model, draw and paint better and play better upon 
the flute and violin. We should sing better and 
construct better buildings. All the arts are one in 
principle and are governed by the same laws. 



IV 
SMILE OR SCOWL 

Sometimes we can best see the nature and im- 
portance of a thing by looking at its opposite. One 
of the opposites of the smile is the scowl. The 
contraction of the brow expresses antagonism; 
the smile, sympathy. The scowl denotes dis- 
approval and dissatisfaction; the smile, approval 
and satisfaction. The scowl signifies discontent 
and annoyance, the smile contentment and enjoy- 
ment. The scowl implies that we are bored, the 
smile that we are entertained and amused. 

The smile imparts thankfulness and receptivity, 
a welcome to what another is saying; the scowl 
implies the shut door, — that we are not listening, 
or caring. 

The smile denotes that we are looking up; the 
scowl that we are looking down. The smile sug- 
gests an acceptance of the plans of the universe, a 
loyalty and welcome to the onward movement of 
things; the scowl that the universe is all wrong, 
the scowler antagonistic because he was not con- 
sulted in its creation. 

The smile expresses a certain courageous con- 
fidence in the ultimate triumph of good ; the scowl 
an unwillingness to accept conditions, and it often 
shows antagonism of the man to himself. 

The scowl and the smile are born of spiritual 
attitude, or of our choice of point of view. 

Have we no control over our points of view? 
Can we choose to scowl or smile? This is really 

35 



THE SMILE 



a serious question. Henri Bergson in his book on 
" Laughter," translated from the French, and 
James Sully, in his able " Essay on Laughter," and 
I believe all great authors who have studied the 
smile, contend that the smile is social rather than 
moral in its character. Primarily, possibly, the 
smile is social. It expresses a man's relation to 
his fellow-men. It is born of the social and sym- 
pathetic instinct. 

However, the question as to whether we shall 
smile or scowl is one of the great tests of human 
life and human character. If a man is free he can 
do the one or refuse to do the other. At any 
moment in life, if the character of the man is 
great enough, he can smile or frown. 

Is not this the real problem of the ages brought 
to a fundamental point where we can see the two 
paths? Is it not the problem in the depths of every 
life and soul? 

Let each one go back carefully in his experiences 
to some real battlefield of his life. Was there not 
a crucial moment when he could have smiled or 
frowned, when he deliberately took his choice? 

The insult came. The awakened impulse was 
to meet scowl with scowl. Could we not have 
obeyed David Crockett's rule and first have been 
sure we were right before we spoke? We could 
have risen to a higher plane of confidence, love 
and sympathy, and even pity, for the man who had 
misunderstood. We could have seen behind the 
scowl the real man who would regret his words; 
to-morrow we could have appealed from Philip 
drunk to Philip sober. 

We do not allow ourselves to stop and scowl 
back at the drunken man's words — they are un- 
noticed. 



SMILE OR SCOWL 37 

A great woman is said to have remarked, " Only 
a gentleman could insult me, and he will not." 

Accordingly the voice of the insulter must be 
unheeded and unheard. 

By simply smiling you can make yourself im- 
mune from antagonism. No sign of anger will be 
left on the face of your would-be antagonist. 

On the other hand, meet frown with frown and 
a fire is kindled, and how great a forest may be 
kindled by how small a fire ! 

Truly love is the secret of life. Obedience to 
the Master's rule would settle all human difficul- 
ties. If we would but do unto others as we would 
have them do unto us, we should eliminate all 
contentions. 

Scowl or smile? 

How simple, how insignificant, seem these two 
acts of the countenance ; yet, how far reaching the 
result ! 

Can we control them? 

That depends upon how quickly we begin ; upon 
the spontaneity with which we can resist tempta- 
tion and change our point of view. 

To turn an impulse to scowl into a cause for a 
smile we must turn our attention to a higher love ; 
we must go into the citadel of our hearts and there 
keep watch and there enthrone a universal sym- 
pathy; we must be so deeply imbued with these 
emotions that the right impulse can replace the 
wrong one. 

All human action or expression starts in an idea, 
in an impulse which at a certain moment we wel- 
come or reject. Once we welcome a point of view 
or indulge an impulse, control may be difficult ; but 
in its first inception it is as easy as a turn of the 
hand, — it is simply a change in the attitude of our 
being. 



38 THESMILE 



The real centre of all our battles is in the mind, 
in our power to control our attention, to be able 
to change the current of thought at the very be- 
ginning. We can change feeling at the very start, 
as we can change the direction of a stream easily, 
and in fact only, near the fountain head. 

Crossing the Rocky Mountains on the Canadian 
Pacific Railroad I awoke one morning at early 
dawn. The train had stopped and I looked out 
to catch a glimpse of the mountains before sunrise. 
Just before my eyes, in rustic letters, spanning a 
small stream, were the words " The Great Di- 
vide/; 

This stream was divided into two parts; one 
flowing east and the other west. One of these 
branches flowed into the Red River of the North 
and found its way to Hudson's Bay and the Atlantic 
Ocean; the other found the Columbia River and, 
after thousands of miles, emptied into the Pacific 
Ocean. 

With a shovelful of dirt I could have turned the 
stream so that the whole would have gone either 
to the Atlantic or to the Pacific. 

Smile or scowl? That is the question of the 
ages ; it is one of the greatest problems and goes 
deep into the nature of self-command in every 
living soul. 

The smile or scowl is born simply of an attitude 
of the soul. Can we change that? Let us discuss 
the question: — can we command our thinking or 
point of view? 

Say what we may, there is a moment when we 
can reject the frown and choose the smile. 

One implies looking up, the other looking down. 
One hints at a willingness to use things for the 
best, with expectancy of the best. One implies 



SMILE OR SCOWL 39 

love, loyalty to life. The other implies unwilling- 
ness, antagonism and hate. 

Accordingly, the smile indicates the turning- 
point in life, it indicates the Great Divide between 
the upward and the downward path. The smile 
foretells victory. The ability to smile marks the 
greatest human power. 



SMILE OR FROWN 

The smile is opposed not only to the scowl, but 
also to the frown and to something for which we 
hardly have a name — shall we call it a droop of 
the countenance or a whine? The whine means 
rather the vocal expression of the frown, but it is 
a good word. 

The smile means not only sympathy, joy, love, — 
it means also courage, the sense of resolution, the 
power and readiness to face difficulties, — a loyal 
acceptance of life and all its problems, and a 
thankfulness that we have been assigned a difficult 
role. 

The whine expresses dissatisfaction with our 
part in life and a cowardly shrinking from diffi- 
culties. 

In the smile there is a lifting of the whole coun- 
tenance. All the elevating muscles are active. 

Someone has said that all progress depends 
upon intelligent discontent. 

Is this true? 

Even dissatisfaction with wrong conditions is 
best expressed by love, by a smile. 

If a man strike you on the right cheek, turn the 
other. 

Even righteous indignation against wrong is 
best expressed, not by a scowl or a frown, but by 
the expression of a higher point of view and a 
smile for the realization of better conditions. 

How easy it is for a human being to drop the 



SMILE OR FROWN 41 

corners of the mouth; how common is such a 
gloomy " signal " on the street! 

Not one in a thousand carries the mouth in its 
normal position, — a horizontal line, in correspond- 
ence with the intention of the Creator. 

Some can remember the old covered wagon of 
the pioneer moving " out West," sometimes it was 
drawn by oxen and sometimes by horses. " Out 
West " this old wagon was called a " prairie- 
schooner." As you watched it disappear in the 
distance, the rear end of the old wagon looked as 
if it were weeping for the old home it was leaving. 
The corners of its mouth were very low, indeed. 

If we are to judge the men and women we meet 
by the corners of the mouth, they seem to be 
moving onward with discontent for the past, and a 
premonition of some coming horror ! On all sides 
we see this expression of discouragement. 

If there were some way by which the corners of 
the mouth could be elevated, it would be one of the 
greatest blessings that could come to the race. 

The only thing that can lift the corners of the 
mouth is the smile. 

The smile eliminates discontent, the want of 
self-reliance, and all such infirmities of the will. 

There is a story that relates how, at one time, 
the devil made up his mind to retire from business. 
He felt he had done enough and that he should 
give others a chance. So he arranged all his tools 
and advertised them for sale. Among the display 
was a very small tool, seemingly of no importance. 
One of the devils who was more careful and 
thoughtful than the others picked this up, and 
noticed that the price was higher than for any other. 
He went to *the devil and inquired the reason. 

" Why, that," replied the devil, " is the most 



42 THESMILE 



valuable instrument I have. It will open doors to 
me that otherwise would be completely closed. 
No one thinks it belongs to me. That is Dis- 
couragement." 

The story goes on further to say that the price 
of that little tool was so great that it is still in 
the possession of the devil. 

The power of discontent and discouragement 
to degrade human character is not sufficiently 
appreciated, nor is the importance of triumphing 
over disappointments fully realized. 

Some great writer has wisely said that to suc- 
ceed in this world a man must be a " good loser." 
That is, a man must be able to smile after the 
greatest defeat. 

As is well known, one of the greatest leaders of 
this country, who had performed great services for 
the nation, when defeated for the presidency 
turned against his friends, became dissatisfied 
with life and died of a broken heart. The same 
has been true of two other men nominated for the 
presidency. They were unable to laugh at their 
defeat. Had any one of these men been able to 
smile he would have received merited honor from 
all the country. Such a defeat was an accident 
and might have been made an opportunity, if the 
men had been able to rise above it. 

On the other hand, one who looks out smiling 
from his great defeat is welcomed in every com- 
pany both by those who voted for him and those 
who voted against him. The smile that was not 
quenched by defeat, that smile that arose victo- 
rious over it, indicated manhood of a high char- 
acter. A man who can smile after defeat can 
never be defeated. He will turn what may seem 
the worst of defeats into the grandest victory. He 



SMILE OR FROWN 43 

who is able, in the face of apparent failure, to rise 
and smile, achieves a greater victory than that of 
being elected to a high office. 

Such failures are to be found in all walks of life, 
rendered such by some very important defeat. 
The same defeat on the contrary, has made many 
men and has given them a greater triumph. 

There is no greater sign of power than the 
ability to smile and change the point of view — 
change the plans of a whole life. One possessing 
such ability always becomes not only popular but 
strong in his character. 

Such a man, a defeated candidate, has been 
called to lecture all over the country, in all the 
great schools. He has received many more invita- 
tions to lecture than he can accept. He is received 
everywhere with the greatest enthusiasm. 

Coming to a great university to lecture, the boys 
cheered him for several minutes. It happened 
to be the day after a national election. He smiled 
at them and said, " Why should you cheer me? I 
was not elected to anything yesterday.' ' 

He is welcomed by every class of men, members 
of all parties, because he has preserved the genial, 
kindly smile that indicates the greatness of the man. 

Many times every day we must choose whether 
we are to smile or frown, whether we are to smile 
or whine; whether we are to assume a positive, 
loving, courageous attitude toward the events of 
life, — toward our fellow-men — or to sink into a 
state of antagonism, discouragement, and lack of 
faith. 

" Smile and the world smiles with you, 
Whine and you whine alone." , 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote " laugh " instead 
of "smile" and "weep" instead of "whine;" 



44 THESMILE 



But as she wrote it the statement is not true. The 
popularity of such words, the fact that they may 
be quoted thousands of times does not make them 
true. What man or woman do you meet on the 
street who does not have a more serious look on 
account of Belgium, Servia and Poland. 

The innocent sufferers do not weep alone. All 
the world that is sane weeps with those who suffer 
from no fault of their own. As I venture to correct 
the lines they are true, universally true. 

People do not always take such lines exactly 
as they are printed. The pessimism of the original 
lines is not realized by people who quote them and 
their meaning to the common heart is, I am sure, 
what is here printed. Unconsciously they sub- 
stitute " whine " for " weep." Not only has the 
writer of a poem poetic license but the reader 
also. A man must become a poet to appreciate 
poetry. 

The whine like all forms of sin separates one 
from his fellow-men. " Whoso finds me will slay 
me," cried Cain when he was made to realize that 
he was a murderer, and he also felt that he was 
separated from God. " From thy face shall I be 
hid," he exclaimed in his agony and he was right. 
A whine or frown or scowl or a grouch of any kind 
separates one from men and God. 

A smile on the contrary expresses sympathy. 
By a smile one comes into touch with others. In 
its very nature a smile is a recognition of others, a 
sign of willingness to share the life of one's fellow- 
men. It is a welcome to your neighbor's thought — 
a signal that you desire to commune with him. 

Fortunate, indeed, is it that men do not meet 
" frown " with " frown " that they do not sym- 
pathetically participate in every unmanly whine. 



SMILE OR FROWN 45 

The dignity and the glory of the race is seen in 
the fact that we meet smile with smile. It proves 
that love and sympathy are held as something 
supreme in the human heart. 

The tendency to reflect the expression of our 
fellow-beings is too well known to require dis- 
cussion. If a friend meets us with a smile, we 
smile back, but if somebody approaches us with 
an angry frown, how quickly we are thrown into a 
corresponding mood ! 

But there is such a thing as holding our thinking 
on a higher plane, always looking out with love and 
kindliness, sympathy and compassion toward 
everyone. The kindly look and the gentle smile 
may be made the means of the greatest victories. 

Someone may dispute this and say that in a 
certain condition of anger, or even discourage- 
ment, it is impossible to smile. That depends 
upon our strength of character. We can turn our 
attention in any direction we choose. We can 
look toward that which is beautiful. We can 
choose a point of view from which we can see the 
absurdity of anger. 

The smile always comes from looking on the 
bright side, the side that is right, the side that is 
infinite, the side that is divine. 

While the smile is primarily spontaneous, though 
it may seem as natural and involuntary as any act 
of expression, still, we can choose to smile, or we 
can repress a smile — we can crush it into a frown. 
Under certain conditions, it is easier to frown than 
to smile — under difficulties — when insulted; but 
if we can smile, we have gained a victory over the 
worst. We can smile as if we were saying to a 
person, " You will not say so to-morrow " ; " You 
do not really think so " ; "It is not your real self 



46 THESMILE 



that is speaking " ; " You will be sorry in a few 
hours " ; " Sometime you will understand me 
better, and know that what you have said is un- 
just." Some such remark as these is implied in 
the smile of victory, the smile that denotes that a 
person is looking upward. Man walks in the direc- 
tion in which his eyes are looking if he walks with 
ease. The smile indicates the direction in which 
we are looking and that we are looking upward. 
We are looking out from the point of view of affec- 
tion and love. Before us there are two roads. The 
straight and narrow road leads upward. That is 
the direction of the true soul, even in the midst 
of difficulties. 

The broad road is downward, and the frown 
always leads that way. 

The ability to smile under most trying circum- 
stances is a measure of power. 



VI 
SIGN OR SYMBOL 

What does the smile mean and whence comes 
its meaning? In its most primitive character, as 
we first find it on the face of a little child, it means 
recognition of love. It means the joyous accept- 
ance of life. It means a realization of one's own 
individuality, the affirmation of one's own identity. 
Looking at the smile as a language, we find it 
to be a sign, not a symbol. In our age, symbols 
have been regarded as the only language. That 
which has no symbolic value, is considered un- 
worthy of our attention. 

The importance of a symbol can hardly be over- 
estimated. The wireless operator, on account of a 
universal agreement upon a symbol of three letters, 
can send out the vibrations which make known 
that a ship is in danger, thus saving thousands of 
lives. 

It is through words as symbols, that knowledge 
and information have been embodied so that every- 
one may read and understand. \ 

Symbols are conventional ; they stand for ideas. 
By them men can convey their ideas and opinions. 
But, shall the importance of signs be overlooked? 

The sign is natural ; it is universal ; it is direct ; it 
is immediate. It is a simple emanation ; it calls for 
no conventional agreement. It is a straight appeal 
to human instinct. 

Signs appeal to both eye and ear at the same 

47 



48 THESMILE 



time. The sign to the ear and the sign to the eye, 
the modulation of the tone and the action must 
agree in their testimony, or all expression is 
chaotic. This agreement is the most fundamental 
thing in all expression. 

Can we not see that the sign is necessary to the 
interpretation of the symbol? Could there have 
been a symbol without a sign? 

In all great poetry the symbol is used in a double 
sense, not only as a symbol but also as a sign. A 
great writer — a great master of style — uses words 
in such a way that they become more than mere 
symbols, and begin to live and breathe with some- 
thing of the character of signs. 

It is a fundamental law of all true expression 
that the sign must transcend the symbol, that a 
true symbol is always based on some kind of 
natural sign. 

The symbol is intellectual. It is external, 
mechanical. The sign can manifest deeper con- 
ditions than words can symbolize. 

How poorly do words express emotions! The 
sign at once reveals feeling and the deepest emo- 
tions in such a way that they are read by all men. 

A symbol is the result of purely conventional 
agreement and is subject to grammatical rules. 

While the sign is definite, and may stand for a 
specific idea, a specific impression, it reveals the 
attitude of the man, the elements of his impres- 
sions, his experiences. 

The sign is natural and obeys Nature's laws and 
is filled with Nature's own life. 

The smile in nature cannot be separated from 
the individual. It is never like that of the cat in 
Wonderland, — left, while the cat itself vanishes. 
Words are symbols, on the contrary, or such 



SIGN OR SYMBOL 49 

things as smiles with the cat gone. They may 
remain as a reminder only; but the sign must be 
full of life. The smile can never be separated 
from life, it never can be disconnected from its 
cause, it cannot be printed; art alone can truly 
suggest it. The smile always partakes of the life 
and spirit that manifests it. The smile may be 
vague in representing opinions or ideas; but it is 
not vague in its revelation of character of the 
human spirit. Its presentation is representative. 
It gives its meaning from no mere agreement 
among men ; but by a universal law founded in the 
nature of things. 

Have you never tried to comfort someone in 
sorrow — for example a mother who has lost her 
child? If, in the midst of your struggles to comfort 
by words, some neighbor should come in and grasp 
the sufferer in her arms, revealing her sympathy 
by natural signs, then you would feel like taking 
off your shoes, for the ground on which you stand 
is holy. 



vn 

MAN'S ELEMENTAL LANGUAGES 

We find that man's primary languages divide 
themselves into two groups, one appealing to the 
ear, and the other to the eye. Natural signs which 
appeal to the eye, we call action. The modulations 
of the voice, the inflection, the tone-color, move- 
ments or emotional modifications of rhythm, we 
call vocal expression. Some deny the dignity of 
languages to these two but each group discharges 
a distinct function as well as do words. By words 
we reveal our opinions and symbolize our ideas; 
by tone we reveal our feelings, our degree of con- 
viction, our degree of earnestness, our point of 
view, the different shades and degrees of emotion. 
By action the character of the speaker himself is 
shown. Not only is the language of action the 
first language, it is also the language of conditions. 
If an action is wrong the tones of the voice cannot 
be right. Action reveals not the impression but 
the effect and the way we receive the impression. 
It, therefore, establishes the very conditions of the 
color of the voice, the modulations of tone. Action 
itself supports all the other languages. It is the 
language to which the appeal of the little child is 
made. It is the language by which all true earnest- 
ness is tested. 

Human expression is, therefore, threefold. It 
consists of words, tones and action. The two 
natural languages, though appealing to totally 

50 



MAN'S ELEMENTAL LANGUAGES 51 

different senses, are vitally united to the words or 
symbols. 

Observe closely the marvellous unity of these 
three languages. They are co-ordinated. They 
never can be separated completely without great 
loss. Each one reveals something different from 
the others. This is the reason why they coalesce 
into an organic unity,-— one is strong where the 
others are weak. They are perfect only when 
united. 

Thus, in the union of these signs, — " By the 
mouth of two or three witnesses every word is 
established." 

These three languages show simultaneously 
what a man thinks, what he feels and what he is. 
We know his ideas, his opinions, his thoughts, 
best by his words. We realize his convictions, his 
emotions, his experiences best by the modulations 
of his voice, and we know his character and his 
motives best through his actions. 

The smile belongs of course, to the language of 
action. It may be taken as a type of all action, be- 
cause it is a primitive, elemental and universal 
characteristic of the human being. Although ac- 
tion has never been adequately explained, and 
though books written upon action are among the 
most unsatisfactory books written on any sub- 
ject, yet, of all languages, action is the most 
directly and most easily read. It is an imme- 
diate appeal to instinct. Can we find a for- 
eigner who is so foreign as not to know the 
meaning of a smile? The fact that language can- 
not symbolize ideas leads many to disparage it. 
For this very reason, however, when we look at it 
from its primitive character as a sign, we find it 
more full of meaning than any other language of 



52 THESMILE 



mankind. Its meaning is filled with more force 
and directness. We find also another most im- 
portant fact: — action furnishes the most adequate 
means for the study of character. It is the most 
unconscious of languages and the most sponta- 
neous, and belongs to the whole body; hence it 
reveals motives, conditions and attitudes of being 
at which other modes of expression merely hint. 
The smile is the least mechanical, the least artifi- 
cial, the least objective of all languages unless we 
except the modulations of the voice, which may 
also be subjective. 

So subjective is pantomimic expression that 
it seems completely united to feeling. It can 
hardly be studied and certainly it cannot be 
developed apart from the experience that causes 
it. 

Accordingly, the true and normal smile must be 
realized in the study of joy, in the observation of 
love and sympathy, or as the agent of the positive 
emotions. 

Its great force as a language is shown by its 
power to contradict words. 

With a frown, say to a little child, " Come here, 
you little angel " ; then with a smile and with the 
consequent involuntary softening of the tone, say, 
" Come here, you little rascal." Here the sign 
contradicts the symbol, and the child, as well as 
everyone else will take the sign before the 
symbol. 

Demosthenes, according to tradition, when 
asked what was the most important element in 
speaking, replied, " Action " ; when asked what 
was the second most important element, he an- 
swered, " Action/' and when asked the third, he 
still answered, "Action." Action has been so 



MAN'S ELEMENTAL LANGUAGES 53 

misunderstood that many have been astounded at 
this statement and have denied that Demosthenes 
ever made it, or, if he did, they think that he meant 
something different from pantomimic expression. 
A very prominent man once said in my presence 
that by " action " Demosthenes meant living and 
doing things. After many years of studying ex- 
pression, I believe that Demosthenes meant 
exactly what he said. He restricted the statement 
in order to emphasize what others, possibly even 
in that day, misunderstood, or at least the im- 
portance of which they failed to appreciate. 

Certainly action is not appreciated in our day. 
It is the most direct of all languages, — the most 
simple. It reveals itself through the whole body ; it 
appeals to the eye most quickly of all our senses. 
It is not local like a pronounced word. It expresses 
the deepest conditions of man's being. Without 
action, such voice modulations as tone- color and 
texture are impossible. 

Pantomime precedes speech. It shows the re- 
ceiving of impressions. Words express the giving 
of an idea or concept ; action shows the beginning 
of the impression; words are only a label giving 
its name or direction. 

Of course by action is not meant gesture, or 
some " signal of distress " by the hands or arms. 

True action is as simple as the smile, something 
as vitally connected with our beings as the simple 
expansion of the body or movement on the feet, or 
any action directly caused by experience. 

Pantomime determines even the conditions of 
all modulations of the voice. Without action, tone- 
color would be impossible, hence, vocal expression 
cannot be separated from pantomimic expression. 
The man who sneers at action as something found 



64 THESMILE 



only among savages, fails to comprehend one of the 
deepest characteristics of human nature. 

Action expresses the character of the speaker. 
Real earnestness and conviction are not shown by 
the loudness of the tone, or the number of words, 
but by this most conditional of all languages. 

Though vocal expression is regarded by many as 
directly and vitally connected with words, yet the 
tones of the voice are really more vitally united to 
action than they are to words. It is the diffusion 
of feeling throughout the body that not only pro- 
duces action and modulations of the tones, but 
colors the voice. 

Most voice modulations are dependent on action. 
When one tries to depend merely upon words, 
or the modulations of the tone, speech becomes 
mechanical and artificial. 

Inflection reveals the attitude of the mind and 
discharges a more intellectual function. Hence, it 
is more closely connected with words than is tone- 
color. 

Inflection, however, is a gesture of the voice as a 
significant movement of the hand is an inflection 
of the body. 

It is difficult or impossible to make a good 
bodily gesture with the wrong vocal inflection — 
even these are vitally connected. But the qual- 
ities of the voice are entirely dependent, not upon 
the gesture but upon the diffusion of emotion into 
the texture of the body, upon the expressive at- 
titude of all parts of the body directly related and 
co-ordinated with the sympathetic retention of the 
breath. Such facts show us that a man's three 
languages are necessary to one another. No one 
of them can be repressed or discarded with im- 
punity. Yet, they are as opposite to each other as 



MAN'S ELEMENTAL LANGUAGES 55 

a man's two hands. To some, the two hands are 
exactly alike, and they are more alike possibly than 
any other two objects in the world; yet at every 
point they are directly opposite. Nothing as ugly 
as two right hands on the same body has ever been 
produced, and it is the direct opposition in their 
similarity that enables them to come together in 
unity. In a way, each of these three languages, 
while simple and expressive of the same thing, re- 
veals a different phase of impression, a different 
aspect of human life and experience, and because 
of this very difference, they become mutually 
necessary and can be co-ordinated for the same 
ends. 

Because each language says something no one 
of the others can possibly say, their unity is made 
possible and necessary. 

Pantomime is the outflow of the awakening of 
thought. It manifests the inception of the thought, 
not the finished realization. It reveals the initia- 
tion, the stimulation, the life of the man himself. 

In teaching, whenever I have been in serious 
doubt of a pupil's needs, I have always studied his 
pantomime. That is a language that never lies ; a 
language that is most unconscious and therefore 
most vitally expressive. 

Because the smile is not a symbol, because it is 
not an objective thing, because it cannot be sep- 
arated from the man and printed like a word,— it is 
often overlooked. 

This very separation of words from the process 
of thinking may make a word the emptiest of all 
things. A word, a phrase, needs to be interpreted 
by the living voice. The smile, the sign must be 
restored to the symbol, or the symbol will be 
meaningless. 



56 THE SMILE 

How often do we wrongly quote a thought from 
someone by missing a word? But still more fre- 
quently do we miss the natural signs he used, the 
action, the smile, and so we miss his experience 
and the spirit with which he spoke. 



vm 

DOES A SMILE REPRESENT OR MANIFEST? 

Is a smile representative or manifestative? 
There are two modes of expression. They are 
found in both tone and action, but we see them 
especially marked in human action. Representa- 
tion is objective, descriptive and illustrative. It is 
deliberative. Manifestation on the other hand, is 
spontaneous, frequently unconscious. It never 
describes. It is an outward sign of inner activity, 
an outward revelation or emanation of something 
within. Representative action belongs more 
especially to the hands — the external agents. 
Manifestation belongs to all bodily agents. The 
smile is a characteristic example of manifestation. 
It is only a mock smile when one man employs it 
to represent the smile of another. In all expres- 
sion, manifestation must transcend representation, 
and the smile possibly illustrates this. 

The tendency to exaggerate the importance of 
representation in action is a great mistake. Action 
has been regarded, not only as representative, but 
imitative, objective and external. 

The smile should teach us that signs are pri- 
marily manifestative. Manifestation is the motion 
of emotion, the texture of a condition, the position 
of a disposition, the modulation of a mode. Its 
cause always lies within. Any effort to give it the 
character of a symbol is an affectation and vitiates 
its true nature. An attempt, such as has so often 

57 



58 THESMILE 



been made, to make all action stand for something 
external, develops weakness and artificiality. 

Manifestation reveals directly and immediately 
man's degree of realization, his deepest expe- 
riences, the primary habits of his life. 

It is because action is primarily manifestative 
that the relation of signs to symbols is so impor- 
tant. Symbols, being representative, may become 
purely objective and cold in comparison with the 
living, manifestative sign. A speech or play, even 
a great poem, implies a living voice, which can be 
interpreted only by living, manifestative signs 
such as the modulations of voice and body. Man- 
ifestation must always transcend representation 
in perfect and artistic expression. 

Here we see also the true nature of delivery. 
This is a supplementing of words as representative 
symbols of man's highest embodiment of ideas, 
with manifestative signs of feeling, of disposition, 
of the inner spirit, which is found in the highest 
poetry and literature. 

Manifestation and representation must both be 
found in true unity to have perfect human expres- 
sion in any form, in oratory, in acting or in literary 
interpretation. Even highest literature itself em- 
ploys and suggests this union. 

"Our human speech is naught, 
Our human testimony false, our fame 
And human estimation words and wind. 
Why take the artistic way to prove so much? 
Because, it is the glory and good of Art, 
That Art remains the one way possible 
Of speaking truth, to mouths like mine, at least. 
How look a brother in the face and say 
* Thy right is wrong, eyes hast thou, yet art blind, 
Thine ears are stuffed and stopped, despite their length, 
And, oh, the foolishness thou countest faith ! ' 



REPRESENT OR MANIFEST 59 

Say this as silvery as tongue can troll — 

The anger of the man may be endured, 

The shrug, the disappointed eyes of him 

Are not so bad to bear— but here's the plague, 

That all this trouble comes of telling truth, 

Which truth, by when it reaches him, looks false, 

Seems to be just the thing it would supplant, 

Nor recognizable by whom it left; 

While falsehood would have done the work of truth. 

But Art, — wherein man nowise speaks to men, 

Only to mankind,— Art may tell a truth 

Obliquely, do the thing shall breed the thought, 

Nor wrong the thought, missing the mediate word. 

So may you paint your picture, twice show truth, 

Beyond mere imagery on the wall,— 

So, note by note, bring music from your mind, 

Deeper than ever the Adante dived, — 

So write a book shall mean, beyond the facts, 

Suffice the eye, and save the soul besides." 

True art is not merely symbolic. It is the smile 
of the human soul. If it has not the character of 
the smile it will be mechanical, artificial and will 
never move the world. 

The sign manifests the life of the individual. On 
one hand the smile may be so used as to embody 
the thought of a thousand years ; on the other hand, 
it may die the moment it is born, but it shows the 
love of man, the real pulsating motives behind his 
words. The greater the writer, — the greater the 
artist, the more definitely does he suggest the 
necessity and character of the true companion, 
the sign. 

Those who sneer at action and say it belongs 
only to the savage part of humanity, and hence 
must be repressed as something outgrown, should 
study the smile. How ridiculous must their opin- 
ion appear when we consider the significance of the 
simplest facial changes or bodily expansions, or 
the simple attitudes of the head or motions of the 



60 THESMILE 



hand. What would the intercourse of human 
beings become were it not for the constant play 
of the face and the subtle actions and positions of 
all parts of the body. 

The tendency to make all action of the body and 
even voice modulation, representative, descriptive, 
or symbols rather than signs, is one of the greatest 
mistakes ever made in human education. De- 
scriptive expression lacks true character of the 
deepest expression. It discards the fundamental 
facts of modulations of being through voice and 
body. 

Human words, great as they are, necessary as 
they are, to express human ideas, opinions and 
thoughts, fall short in the manifestation of human 
feeling. 

We find here an indication of the necessity of 
human art. Every art expresses something that 
no other art can say. Unless it can do this, it is 
not an art at all. Human language is as complex 
as the human faculties and experiences which 
are the cause of all expression. This complexity 
shows the necessity of the artistic point of view; 
art is a necessity of man's higher faculties. 

The higher experiences must not only transform 
symbols into figures, but they imply the awakening 
of higher realization and require certain modula- 
tions of voice and body to express them. In the 
same way all the arts are necessary to reveal the 
deep causes of human experiences and give higher 
interpretation to human language. This has been 
well shown in Browning's " The Ring and the 
Book." When a man is inwardly stirred and sin- 
cerely speaks out, then his art rises to poetry or to 
the dignity of a sign, or a smile. " The look," said 
Balzac, " the voice, the respiration and the attitude 



REPRESENT OR MANIFEST 61 

or walk are identical. But as power has not been 
given to man to stand guard at once over these 
four different simultaneous expressions of his 
thought, watch that one which speaks but the 
truth, and you will know the whole man." Do we 
not all agree with Emerson when he says " Nature 
tells every secret once? Yes, but in man she tells 
it all the time, by form, attitude, gesture, mien, 
face and parts of the face, and by the whole action 
of the machine." 



IX 
GESTURE, POSITION OR BEARING 

To understand any habitual and more or less 
permanent expression of the face we must study 
further into the nature of action. One of the most 
important distinctions or divisions of pantomimic 
expression is found in its degree of permanence. 

Pantomime may be divided into gesture, attitude 
and bearing. 

A gesture is an expressive motion. It expresses 
something transitory, some feeling that is on the 
surface. 

An attitude expresses a condition, an emotion 
that dominates us for a time; a feeling that lays 
hold of our deeper nature; a feeling that is not 
local or superficial, but one that permeates our 
whole being. 

A bearing is an action that expresses that which 
is more permanent ; that which has become a part 
of our character; it is the permanent result of 
some emotion that we have frequently cherished, 
the result of habitual emotions and attitudes. 
The bearing thus expresses character. 

Every experience we pass through tends to 
create a condition favorable to its return. Feelings 
that recur frequently, therefore, establish certain 
tendencies or bearings which underlie all other 
expressions, whether gestures or attitudes. 

As a rule the individual is unconscious of his 
bearing. It has become such a permanent part 

62 



GESTURE, POSITION OR BEARING 63 

of him that he becomes aware of it only occasion- 
ally, and by comparing himself with other men ; or 
by the intuition which lies back of consciousness 
of his higher possibilities or ideals. Here we find 
that a study of action reveals to us the deepest 
process of our development, a process that goes 
on from the cradle to the grave. By turning away 
from certain experiences, and cherishing those 
that are opposite or higher, we begin the process of 
our more ideal development. 

Notwithstanding all that may be said regarding 
education as an acquisition of knowledge, even as 
the attainment of culture, there is a deeper proc- 
ess, — the formation of character. That is the 
highest part of education. All educational training 
must centre in this process of establishing right 
habits as expressed in normal bearings — right dis- 
positions and motives, right tendencies in being 
and their expression in the bearing of the 
body. 

There is a tendency in our day for the young man 
to leap to his profession, to despise the college 
course and turn to the professional school. The 
young man is more ambitious to become a lawyer 
or a doctor or a business man than he is to develop 
his personality. 

Bearing is seldom thought of in relation to 
speaking. The speaker in fact is apt to think of 
that which is most emotional and most superficial. 
Speakers, we find as a rule, have more faith in 
gestures than in attitudes. 

If, however, we observe carefully, we may note 
that, although the gestures may be very significant 
and attitudes still more so, it is the bearing which 
possesses the deepest and highest expressive 
value. A transitory feeling is less important than 



64 THESMILE 



an emotion that remains for a time, and even this 
is less important than those feelings which have 
become vital motives, a real part of the permanent 
character. 

Almost alone of all languages, a man's nature is 
expressed by his action and especially by his 
bearing which transcends all action. 

Is a smile an attitude, a gesture or a bearing? 
It may be any one of them. Certain giggles and 
grimaces are gestures, whereas a loving smile may 
express the attitude of a man. 

The most important element of the smile, how- 
ever, is that which is usually entirely overlooked, 
a certain permanent attitude toward life, toward 
others, a kindly bearing which may not be recog- 
nized as a smile, but if studied may be taken as 
a condition favorable to a smile. 

That the condition may become a bearing may 
be easily proved by a few illustrations. 

One of my most delightful remembrances is 
of an occasional glimpse of Dr. Oliver Wendell 
Holmes upon the street. One day I came upon 
him looking into a store window, with all the 
smiling interest of a boy. I stood at a distance and 
gazed on him with admiration. 

A few times I have seen him crossing the Com- 
mon. He seemed to be one animated smile from 
the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. The 
smile seemed to be there always as a bearing. It 
was a smile in repose. There was no grin, that 
horrible mockery of a smile. It was the deep, 
genuine, simple revelation of the heart of a child 
which he was able to keep through all the serious 
work of a man's life. 

By invitation of one of my students I once 
attended a lecture on anatomy by Dr. Holmes at 



GESTURE, POSITION OR BEARING 65 

the Harvard Medical School. It was one of his 
most serious lectures. There was no joke in it 
from first to last. The subject was the larynx, 
and the young medical friend who accompanied me 
thought I would be particularly interested in the 
subject. How happy every student in that class 
seemed! I saw the eager faces all about me. 
The Professor's remarks were expressive of cheer- 
fulness and sympathy. I wanted to see if he had 
the professional air that most lecturers have; the 
mask which the minister puts on when he ascends 
to the pulpit ; that the teacher usually assumes be- 
fore his class; that the employer wears when he 
goes into the factory. There was nothing of the 
kind, — only a genuine, simple, hearty, loving 
bearing. I saw the man himself with a cheerful- 
ness so deep that it became seriousness. It was 
the same smile he wore when he stood up before 
an audience once and said : 

" Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to fill the 
place of Judge Gray. Now you all know that is 
impossible. All I can hope to do is to rattle around 
in it a little." 

Judge Gray, as is well-known, was a very large 
man. He and Phillips Brooks and Bishop Mc- 
Vicker, who were all unusually large men, were 
once walking through a village in Europe. The 
natives gazed at them in astonishment and in- 
quired whence they came. Someone replied, 
" Those are Americans ; they are rather small men 
in their own country." 

Another story is told of these three men who 
were once in London. A man was lecturing on 
the degeneracy of the race. Among his illustra- 
tions he said, " Look at the Americans. They are 
thin and lank, and small in stature." At the close 



THE SMILE 



of the lecture there was a chance for questions. 
One of the Americans arose and said : 

" Ladies and gentlemen: I am an American and 
you can see for yourself if I am an illustration of 
the gentleman's principles." Another of the fa- 
mous trio then arose and said, " I also am an Amer- 
ican. You can take me as another specimen." 
When the third man arose the situation was too 
much for the audience and the laughter was un- 
controllable. 

I once heard Dr. Holmes introduce Matthew 
Arnold. " I am reminded," he said, " of two 
Americans, a big man and a little man, who met 
a mob in London. The big man gave his coat to 
the little man to hold while he demonstrated his 
strength in subduing the mob. The mob gave 
three cheers for the big man ; then someone cried, 
' Three cheers for the little man who held the coat/ 
Now, ladies and gentlemen, the man who was to 
hold the coat to-night was Reverend Phillips 
Brooks." 

Then there was another noble character — Dr. 
Edward Everett Hale. Whoever saw him crossing 
the Common, or walking along Tremont Street to 
the Lend-a-Hand office without feeling a thrill of 
joy? His countenance was expanded even when 
he seemed to be thinking over some deep problem. 
He felt happiness in all that lay about him — an 
interest in every human being. 

I once heard him tell about passing two girls in 
front of the old Public Library. He overheard one 
of them say, " Look at that bright, beautiful room. 
I wonder if it is a club and what kind of people go 
in there." He said, " I am not accustomed to 
speak to ladies on the street, but I broke my rule 
for once. I stepped up to the girls and said, ' That 



GESTURE, POSITION OR BEARING 67 

building is open to anybody and everybody. There 
is no person who walks the streets of Boston who 
will not find welcome there.' " 

In his statue in the Public Garden, his benignant 
smile is lacking. Possibly it was too much for 
human art to catch and reproduce the beaming, 
loving seriousness of that face. 

However, the representation may be a little 
more successful than the horrible burlesque of 
Phillips Brooks near Trinity Church, which is the 
worst caricature of a joyous, smiling, loving face 
that has ever been thrust upon an innocent pub- 
lic. 

I never pass Trinity Church without steeling my 
face and looking off at a distance that I may be 
spared the sight of that monstrosity. 

Modern art contends that the smile must be 
necessarily avoided or it will become a mere 
simper and destroy all dignity. 

Does not the art of our day acknowledge in such 
a statement its own weakness? 

How long did Leonardo da Vinci work to master 
the smile of Mona Lisa? 

Observe also the wonderful smile on the por- 
traits of Franz Hals. These are the deepest bear- 
ings of the character and in no case do they de- 
tract from its dignity. 

Sargent has worked hard to master the tech- 
nique of this great artist and he is regarded the 
greatest technician of the present day; but he 
falls short of Franz Hals in the mastery of the 
smile. 

Recent art has made great advances, especially 
in landscape. The smile of the fields and the 
skies is better rendered than ever before. But 
why neglect the expression of the human body? 



68 THESMILE 



Why overlook the transcendent glory of the human 
face? 

After all its great advances, is our art lacking 
in the ability to portray such an elemental expres- 
sion as a smile? Has it failed, after all, to attain 
the simple power and dignity of the Greeks? Is it 
still too external, mechanical and exhibitional to 
rise to the dignity of the great masters? 

What art school really studies the expression of 
the human countenance? What art student ever 
discriminated between gesture, attitude and bear- 
ing, or even knew enough about expression to 
know that there are such things? The modern 
ignorance of human expression is so great that 
it extends even to our artists. 

The great art school is yet to come : an institu- 
tion that will study every phase of human expres- 
sion; one that will recognize that the student of 
only one art becomes narrow, opinionated and 
artificial; that to be only a painter is not to be an 
artist. A sculptor or a performer on a musical 
instrument may have expert technique and yet be 
purely perfunctory. He only is an artist who is 
able to see, as the great masters saw, expression 
in its different forms. 

Expression is far deeper and broader than any of 
its modes, however important these may be. A 
mere elocutionist is no better than a mere actor, 
a mere pianist or a mere painter. 

Why can art never have all the dignity, all the 
seriousness, all the weight, all the faith and love 
of the human soul embodied in the smile? Who 
ever heard of an art school studying a smile and 
its meaning, and trying to realize its beauty? 

Once in New York I saw the crowd staring at a 
man with flowing white hair and a soft hat, who 



GESTURE, POSITION OR BEARING 69 

was passing along Broadway. It was Henry Ward 
Beecher. His beaming smile of sympathy seemed 
to be an emanation of intense joy. His whole 
face seemed to express his pleasure in the doings 
of ordinary men. 

Another remarkable face, which was a delight 
to everyone who looked upon it, was that of Joseph 
Jefferson. The simplicity of his character, and his 
childlike love were in his countenance. Every 
feature seemed permeated with the spirit of a 
smile, joy and contentment, love and admiration 
for nature and his fellow-men. 

It was not difficult for a smile to appear and run 
instantly all over such a face. The smile seemed 
to be hiding beneath his features. To print one 
of his stories never satisfies one who heard him 
tell it. 

Once when about to buy a farm in New Jersey 
he asked the owner whether the water would not 
ail evaporate through such gravelly soil. The old 
farmer replied that, on the contrary, the soil would 
not only hold the water, but would draw water by 
something which from the farmer's lips sounded 
like " caterpillary attraction." In telling a story, 
Jefferson never laughed. His countenance only 
beamed with the spirit of joy and laughter. You 
felt laughter not only as an attitude but more as a 
perpetual bearing, showing a joyous outlook upon 
life, — a point of view full of affection and tender- 
ness for everything and everybody. 

Such examples as Henry Ward Beecher on 
Broadway, Phillips Brooks, Edward Everett Hale 
and Dr. Holmes crossing Boston Common ; Jeffer- 
son, Gladstone in London, John Bright in Man- 
chester indicate how certain men may wear, in 
their ordinary intercourse with their fellow-men, a 



70 THESMILE 



smile which expresses a deep childlike trust that, 
as Plato puts it, " the eternal is true and good." 

This habitual bearing must be carefully dis- 
tinguished from any affected attitudes of the face. 

The true bearing can be seen only when the 
man is alone or in his home or among his most 
familiar friends, for a bearing is always involun- 
tary and unconscious. 

Some men in business affect a cast-iron un- 
changing smile which is the same for all occasions. 
You feel that it is not a true bearing but a mere 
affectation based on selfishness. You feel that 
they are only trying to bias your judgment to get 
your money. 

The smile, even when it is a bearing, is full of 
life and vigor. It changes in all sorts of ways, it 
kindles with another's thought, is always sym- 
pathetic, is never dominating but based on love. 
You find it is all your own. Certainly there is not 
the least affectation about it. The true smile, as a 
bearing, seems ready for communion, for enjoy- 
ment. It suggests a spirit looking for good things, 
for beautiful things ; looking for somebody to help, 
somebody with whom he can share the joys of life. 
The right kind of smile, born of a sympathetic 
attitude, born of true gladness at meeting every 
stranger, is one of the fundamental requisites of 
all truly great men. 

Some assume a smile when in society. Every- 
one feels that this is unsatisfactory. One has an 
intuition that this is not the habitual, daily smile 
of the individual, but is involuntarily forced beyond 
the real heart's feeling. This forced smile, or pre- 
tence of being pleased, is one of the great causes 
of the degradation and the superficiality of human 
character. 



GESTURE, POSITION OR BEARING 71 

Of course every person should be pleased to 
meet his fellow-men, but this pleasure can be 
easily forced and pretended when it is not the 
real feeling. Here we find the very basis, the 
very start of superficiality and hypocrisy. Many 
assume an artificial and affected smile in the 
attempt to appear at ease. But it is only the love 
and joy and a generous sharing in the life of others, 
expressed in a certain emanation in the face, a 
readiness to smile, that puts one's self and others 
at ease. We achieve ease of bearing only when we 
are perfectly honest and direct, when we have 
learned to respect both the highest and the lowest 
as members of one great family. 

The antithesis of ease is awkwardness. It is 
awkwardness that is most feared by the society 
woman. One of them has said, " Awkwardness is 
never forgiven in this world or any other/ ' 

May we not learn a lesson regarding awkward- 
ness from the study of the smile? 

It is through the smile that awkwardness first 
vanishes. Awkwardness is born of fear, — the 
fear of doing the wrong thing. It results from not 
feeling at home, from not being able to come into 
touch with others. The true smile expresses 
grace and repose. 



X 

THE SMILE AND BEAUTY 

We here encounter a very important question. 
Why do people wear such serious faces on the 
street? Someone will say, " Because life is seri- 
ous." " Therefore you see," they continue, " the 
superficiality of the smile. No sensible person 
goes around with a grin on his face. When one 
happens to smile to himself on the street, he is 
laughed at. Life is serious, thus men demand 
that the habitual attitude of the face should be 
solemn." 

Is there no explanation of the fact that the atti- 
tude of discouragement and the attitude, which is 
almost a frown and certainly expresses discourage- 
ment, is the conventional attitude worn on the 
street? Is this a social requirement? Is it that 
life is so filled with gloom that such a vinegar 
aspect has become general? Or is it fear? Is it 
because a man feels he has enemies? Is it lack 
of sympathy? Is it because the average man in 
the midst of his illusions allows negative condi- 
tions to make their home in his heart and face? 

He does brighten up for a moment when he 
meets a friend. Sometimes the smile lasts for a 
whole block, then he suddenly thinks someone is 
laughing at him, and gives the corners of his mouth 
a jerk downward into their accustomed gloom and 
gradually allows the serious mood which expresses, 
to use a phrase which Kipling has called detest- 
able,—" The battle of life." Why should we re- 

72 



THE SMILE AND BEAUTY 73 

press all our better feelings merely because we 
are in public or in the company of strangers? Con- 
ventional politeness demands that a stranger be 
treated as a superior. The moment he speaks to 
you on the street you give him your attention and 
bow with deference, direct him kindly or even go 
with him, if necessary, to point out the way. 

Once, while walking alone through the Forest 
of Fontainebleau, trying to find the village of 
Barbazon where the great artists Rousseau, 
Millet and others had lived, I inquired the way of a 
French gentleman who was on horseback. I saw 
from his smile how difficult was the task. I asked 
him to give me general direction, and this he indi- 
cated to me kindly and carefully. 

I trudged on, feeling grateful for such careful 
instructions. At length I came to a point where it 
seemed, a dozen roads branched from one little 
circle. As I stood in doubt, wondering which road 
to take, the same gentleman galloped up, waved 
his hand toward the one I was to take, bowed 
and rode away. 

Once on a hasty trip through old Heidelberg, 
I felt I was near the old University and must see 
the place where so many great men had taught. 
My friends were in a hurry, so we accosted the 
only person near us, a passing lady, and asked 
her for directions. She motioned for us to follow. 
Possibly our broken German indicated that she 
would not be understood even if she should ex- 
plain. Noticing that she turned out of her way, 
we tried to apologize and asked her not to trouble 
herself. She shook her head and hurried on. At 
a corner she suddenly waved her hand toward the 
university buildings and was gone before we had 
time to thank her. 



74 THESMILE 



An American and his wife were once dining in a 
restaurant on a Parisian boulevard. Suddenly the 
lady fainted. Her husband picked her up in his 
arms and carried her, as best he could, across the 
sidewalk, motioning to a cab. A passing stranger 
saw him, ran, brought the cab, and helped place 
the lady in it. When the American turned to 
thank the stranger, he caught sight of him lifting 
his hat with a kind smile as he disappeared in the 
crowd. They never met before or afterwards, but 
how such a look lingers in the memory ! 

Such kind acts occur in every nation and every 
community. They are beautiful and are recog- 
nized as beautiful. Why should we not cultivate 
a more kindly attitude toward men, and the smile, 
expressing a readiness to do such deeds, instead 
of that cold, severe, critical bearing, which is con- 
sidered appropriate for the street? 

Does the conventional gloomy face really ex- 
press the spirit of the human heart? It certainly 
does not express man's aspirations or the ideal 
toward which he is striving. Do men habitually 
hide their better selves? Do they conceal what 
they are trying to be? Is a solemn face a mere 
conventionality? 

This conventional, ironclad face is certainly not 
beautiful. People will pose before a glass and 
carefully arrange their hair and examine critically 
every article of dress to appear to others as beau- 
tiful as possible. We all know that there is no 
greater ambition with many people than to appear 
beautiful before others. Then why neglect the 
greatest source of beauty? Why daub the face 
with poison and neglect the smile? True beauty 
is not regularity of feature or softness of the skin. 

But, alas! how many regard beauty as only 



THE SMILE AND BEAUTY 75 

" skin deep." True beauty belongs to the soul. 
It is created out of the affections, the sympathies, 
the emotions and the attitude toward life. 

" Quite the ugliest face I ever saw," says Whit- 
tier, " was that of a woman whom the world calls 
beautiful. Through its ' silver veil ' the evil and un- 
gentle passions looked out hideous and hateful. 
On the other hand, there are faces, which, the multi- 
tude, at the first glance, pronounce homely, unattrac- 
tive, and such as ' Nature fashions by the gross,' 
which I always recognize with a warm heart-thrill ; 
not for the world would I have one feature changed ; 
they please me as they are ; they are hallowed by 
kind memories; they are beautiful through their 
associations; nor are they any the less welcome 
that, with my admiration of them, 'the stranger 
intermeddleth not.' " 

The greatest beauty of the human face is its 
power to express the feelings of the heart. With- 
out expression the countenance is cold and life- 
less. The mobility of the features, allowing the 
smile to permeate every part, reveals the highest 
elements of human nature. It shows that deep 
in the heart there is the constant attitude of sym- 
pathy; the wish to share, not to dominate; not to 
secrete and possess but to live in union with 
others ; to spread, not terror and antagonism, but 
joy and love. When such emotions are really felt, 
the face and form kindle and the thought shines 
through the countenance. The smile is the key 
that unlocks the door to beauty and loveliness. 

Who does not remember faces that according 
to the world's standard were not beautiful? That 
is, their features were not regular and well pro- 
portioned. They lacked delicacy and softness of 
skin, yet the whole countenance seemed alive with 



76 THE SMILE 



beautiful thoughts, genuine sympathies and ex- 
alted feelings. 

There were Jenny Lind, Charlotte Cushman, 
William Warren; there are Sembrich and hun- 
dreds of others, whose kindly faces live for a gen- 
eration in the thoughts and feelings of those who 
have seen them. Such faces may be found in 
every walk of life. Who does not know of some 
good woman who has been a mother to the whole 
neighborhood? Who has not known faces that 
could never be photographed? 

It is the power to express, which creates real 
beauty, something all can cultivate. 

The smile, or rather the underlying cause of 
the smile, is the supreme beautifier of the human 
countenance. True beauty is an emanation of 
life, joy, peace, contentment, and sympathy with 
one's kind. 



XI 

CAN THE SMILE BE DEVELOPED? 

Can we develop the smile? Does it lie within 
the province of education? One of our great artists 
has said, " No man can teach expression. He 
can teach only its grammar." According to this 
theory you can teach the painter only drawing, the 
use of his tools, the nature of colors and how to 
mix them. You can teach the musician only his 
piano or violin or flute. Is this true? Is there no 
awakening of ideals which is an essential part of 
education? The very word " education " means 
to draw out. Is there no stimulation of the imagi- 
nation which is a necessary part of the develop- 
ment of any artist? Is it possible that art educa- 
tion is merely a mechanical process? 

How often are sad examples of modern art edu- 
cation found. A young woman, with high ideals, 
deep artistic nature and feeling, entered one of 
the leading so-called art schools. For the better 
part of a year she was compelled to draw only from 
a cast. The drudgery began to pall ; art became to 
her a mechanical thing; she lost her aspirations, 
her ideals* Her artistic instincts were dulled. 
She had no relief from that one mechanical per- 
formance. She had no study of expression, noth- 
ing was given to her to awaken her creative im- 
agination, her emotional energies, her love of 
beauty, her power of insight into fundamental ele- 
ments or causes of beauty. She had no study of 
herself, no study of the different modes by which 

77 



78 THESMILE 



imagination and emotion are unfolded. How few 
artists are made by such a process! How many 
are unmade by such drudgery ! Such a mechanical 
process may be some explanation of the fact that 
processes of art expression are so little prized in 
education. Can you teach expression? Assuredly, 
if you can teach anything. No one can say that 
students of painting do not have to learn to draw. 
Every art has a technique which must be mas- 
tered ; there is even a technique of speaking. But 
with a mastery of technique the actions of the 
mind must be awakened, the deeper insight, the 
intuitions. No amount of grammar can teach a 
man to think. 

Technique is the true mode of revealing mental 
actions. It is the best way of conveying impres- 
sions. 

Every art is a mode of thinking. The student 
must learn not merely grammar. He must learn 
to think. Grammar is but an outward shell, hard 
and mechanical, the result of formulation. Woe 
to the man who clamps these on the backs of stu- 
dents before the real life is awakened, before the 
soul has seen any vision. The same mistake is 
made in many of our public schools even more 
than in our art schools. Too much attention is 
paid to mere mechanical rules. 

To acquire correct and beautiful English, boys 
and girls must be inspired with the desire to ex- 
press; they must receive true impressions; they 
must be awakened by contact with great literature. 
When their imaginations are awakened, when they 
have seen something beautiful and are asked to 
describe it, they are led to the desire to express it 
well. In this way they discover the simple rules 
of grammar. 



CAN THE SMILE BE DEVELOPED? 79 

On the contrary, the mechanical teacher of gram- 
mar turns all attention to mere words. The stu- 
dent has nothing to say but there is an endeavor 
to teach him to say it in correct English, — thus he 
loses all real interest, and there is no awakening 
of the desire to express. 

The aim and the first step of all education is to 
awaken, to inspire. To speak correctly we must 
think correctly. The great law of education is like 
the smile, which must come from within outward. 

The highest education is a sharing of the uni- 
versal life. Each human being as an individual is 
a centre of conscious identity, but this does not 
mean that the individual is shut up in some corner. 
To live at all we must communicate. A universal 
conception of the immortal life is that it is one of 
love. 

You can improve a smile only according to the 
laws of all development. You can awaken a man's 
better nature. You can enkindle a higher love. 
You can make him more conscious of his ideals 
and give him more courage to feel them. You can 
stimulate aspirations. You can give him a better 
point of view of life, — a higher conception of his 
race. This causes the smile to be deeper, to dif- 
fuse itself all over the face and body and become 
a permanent part of his countenance. 

Of course we cannot force a smile. The smile 
can never be improved by rule. It cannot be built 
or constructed. It has no grammar but it can 
be awakened. The improvement of the smile de- 
pends upon a deeper and truer view of life, upon 
better health and a healthier vision, upon encour- 
agement to enjoyment, upon greater sympathy 
with one's kind, upon increase of faith, confidence 
in truth and in men. 



80 THESMILE 



The problem of improving the smile is the same 
problem of all human education. Education must 
awaken the very depths of our being. It cannot 
proceed mechanically or by rule. All human edu- 
cation must simply awaken and direct the impulses 
of nature. 

The secret of FroebePs teaching, according to a 
critic and advocate of his method, consists in bring- 
ing such objects around the child as will stimulate 
spontaneous activity. 

According to this all education is primarily an 
awakening; that exercise is the most important 
which will most effectually quicken the human 
powers and bring them into co-ordinate activity. 

The smile can be developed; and its develop- 
ment shows the right processes of all education. 

If you believe that a smile cannot be improved 
observe closely the smile of a baby. Its first smile 
is local, but watch the child daily for some weeks. 
What a transformation, slow but decided ! Every 
day some deeper action becomes apparent, some 
additional part of his face is filled with joy and love 
until at last there is no part that does not beam 
with feeling. Many men retain the constricted 
smile of early childhood. None of their smiles 
have ever visited their foreheads. There is simply 
action at the corners of the mouth and that is all. 
Activity at the outer corners of the eyes, and es- 
pecially of the lower eyelid, is weak. Sometimes 
the lips are drawn back in a constricted and 
tightened way and become cramped and set upon 
the teeth. 

The majority of people have constrictions in 
their smiles, constrictions that could be easily 
removed if the facial muscles receive the proper 
rhythmic treatment. The ringers may be laid 



CAN THE SMILE BE DEVELOPED? 81 

gently upon the face at those points where there 
are constrictions and the muscles may be gently 
moved or kneaded so the part may be set free and 
the emotion allowed to diffuse its action through 
the whole face. 

How does this slow transformation take place? 
In the same way that development proceeds in us 
all. The whole face gradually becomes more 
responsive. Each little muscle awakens. Na- 
ture's great process, the localization of function, 
rapidly progresses. 

The improvement in the looks is astonishing. 
Of all beautifiers the smile is the greatest, but it 
must be genuine; it must bring every feature of 
the face into co-ordination ; every muscle must be 
stimulated to act simultaneously. The develop- 
ment of the smile need not lead to affectation. If 
the process is properly carried on affectation may 
be avoided. It is one of the faults to be removed. 
There are assumed smiles all around us. 

All expression implies a certain giving up of the 
muscles and parts of the body to the diffusion of 
feeling. 

Some men's hands are cramped and constricted. 
Feeling causes little more than a jerk of the mus- 
cles of the arm. By relaxing the hand feeling and 
emotion will be diffused into every part. We can 
train the hand from a mere constricted pair of 
nippers or paws into a sympathetic sequence of 
unfolding actions more beautiful than the flower. 
We can feel every finger receiving its quota of 
tenderness and co-ordination, bringing it into ac- 
tion and unity natural to the human hand. Pos- 
sibly there is nothing else in all the universe that 
can perform that action. Certainly there is nothing 
in this world that can compare with it. 



82 THESMILE 



" Oh ! " you say, " everybody can do that." No, 
indeed. It sometimes takes us weeks at the 
School of Expression to secure that sympathetic 
modulation, and when it comes, what a change! 
Channels are opened that allow pent-up feeling a 
mode of expression; it is not alone the hand that 
is free, it is the student's whole being. 

The hand is the flower of expression. The fin- 
gers are its' petals. 

And the human face : into how few does feeling 
flow and diffuse itself equally over every part ! 

Yes, the smile is universal, but what a ghastly, 
one-sided lot of smiles are found in the world ! 

How few, when they smile, smile with the whole 
countenance ! Of course the diffusion of the smile 
into every feature cannot come from deliberation ; 
that would only result in artificiality. We must 
smile with the entire face. To do this we must 
allow the face to smile. When the deliberative 
usurps the spontaneous, we have artificiality and 
affectation. When the spontaneous usurps the 
deliberative, we have chaos. Is there no way in 
which we can manipulate the face, strengthen in- 
ternal emotion, open a channel for its outflow, 
until the whole face can be rilled and moulded with 
this imaginative and emotional life? 

If we begin early, can we not bring all the fea- 
tures of the face into greater unity? Can we not 
make them harmonious by manipulation with the 
fingers? Something of the kind can be done for 
I have seen it, but the greatest need is that the 
man be awakened and his emotion stimulated. 
We cannot produce the effect without the cause. 
Let man be simple. Let him look on the world 
in a natural, unaffected and sympathetic way,— 
the way any true human being should ; if he per- 



CAN THE SMILE BE DEVELOPED? 83 

ceives but one little streak of sunshine, then he 
will smile. The development of the smile, how- 
ever, must go still farther. Wrong habits are a 
matter of acquirement. For example: there is 
everywhere danger of premature expression. Im- 
pulsiveness is not the same as spontaneity. The 
latter employs a co-ordination of man's primary 
faculties and powers. It employs reserve, — the 
co-ordination of emotions until they diffuse ac- 
tively into all parts of the body. 

What is spontaneity, and especially what is it in 
the smile? 

One of the worst faults, and one of the earliest, 
is a kind of jerk of the body intended for a laugh. 
Not only does the laugh displace the smile but it 
is a sign of weakness, and the result is characteris- 
tic of all forced expression. The muscles are set 
into action and the whole body is jerked, or more 
frequently, given a series of jerks. A boy or girl 
gives up prematurely to the desire to be pleased, 
or share laughter with older people, with the result 
that there is a loud gush of breath, a contortion of 
the body and other abnormal actions. 

Such an outward thrust of breath or cramp of the 
body is a sign of weakness. Such tendencies— 
and there are many of them too — should be cor- 
rected as early as possible. Here is the time to 
begin to develop character. 

The smile must be easy, natural, simple. It 
must not be forced, not chaotic. Even children 
while full of joy must be trained to eliminate ex- 
plosive laughter. 

The smile must precede and support laughter. 
Support is one of the greatest laws of expression. 
It means that central action must justify one that 
is superficial ; that primary action such as the smile 



84 THESMILE 



must support secondary actions such as laughter. 
All true laughter begins in a smile which must pre- 
cede and support it. 

" You have in you there," says Emerson " a 
noisy, sensual savage, which you are to keep down, 
and turn all his strength to beauty. For example 
what a seneschal and detective is laughter! It 
seems to require several generations of education 
to train a squeaking or a shouting habit out of a 
man. Sometimes, when in almost all expressions 
the Choctaw and the slave have been worked out of 
him, a coarse nature still betrays itself in his con- 
temptible squeals of joy. It is necessary for the 
purification of drawing-rooms that these enter- 
taining explosions should be under strict control. 
Lord Chesterfield had early made this discovery, 
for he says, ' I am sure that since I had the use of 
my reason, no human being has ever heard me 
laugh.' I know that there go two to this game, and, 
in the presence of certain formidable wits, savage 
nature must sometimes rush out in some dis- 
order." 

Emerson and Chesterfield recognized the dan- 
ger of vulgarity in laughter. It is the one act to 
which we are liable to give up, to prematurely and 
unreservedly abandon ourselves. Yet they pos- 
sibly went too far. 

Mr. Frank Sanborn tells a story of how he once 
went to walk with Emerson in the woods, and he 
tried to make him laugh. Beginning very quietly 
and composedly he endeavored to take him by 
surprise with the following story: A man came in 
at 4 o'clock in the morning. As he came in his 
wife cried out, " Why are you coming in so late 
as this? It is four o'clock." " My dear," replied 
the man, " it is one o'clock." " It is four o'clock, 



CAN THE SMILE BE DEVELOPED? 85 

the clock has just struck four," replied his wife. 
" My dear," he answered, " it struck one, I heard 
it strike one repeatedly." 

Emerson, taken by surprise at the last word, 
turned away from Mr. Sanborn and placed his 
hand over his mouth and came as near laughing 
as he ever did. 

While the control of laughter, in transmuting 
it into a smile, is one of the greatest marks of 
culture yet the hearty laugh brings health and 
strength. 

However, the laugh which is reserved and re- 
tained in the middle of the body, which is, so to 
speak, an internal laugh rather than an external, 
has a far better effect upon the health than the 
quick abandon and the open boisterous laugh. 

One method of improving the laugh, accordingly, 
is to transform it into a smile, to transform it into 
an intense increase of the breathing and an inward 
intense activity. 

Another point may be noted. The laugh to 
which we quickly abandon ourselves, is soon 
over, while the laugh which we reserve and con- 
trol gives us a deeper laugh and stays longer. 

Never allow anything to make us negative. Let 
us be always positive; let us keep in our hearts 
only positive emotions. What a change that would 
make in our lives ! 

Observe the effect of positive emotions upon 
life: 

A scientist started a series of wonderful in- 
vestigations which were unfortunately interrupted 
by lack of support for his great laboratory. He 
showed that negative emotions exercised a dele- 
terious influence upon the metabolism in the cells 
of the human body, while joy, love, courage and 



THE SMILE 



all the positive emotions stimulated all that goes 
towards normal functioning in all the organs of the 
body. 

He took two women. One meditated for a 
month over all the bad things that had happened 
to her in her life ; the other meditated over all the 
good things that had happened to her. One kept 
her thoughts negative ; the other kept her thoughts 
positive. 

At the first of the month a most careful ex- 
amination was given in all vital conditions. At the 
close of the month another careful examination 
was given. One had decreased 18 per cent. ; the 
other had increased 25 per cent, in all that made for 
health, strength and the enjoyment of life. 

It is because the smile expresses positive emo- 
tion that it is so important to life. " Laugh and 
grow fat " is one of the oldest and truest of the 
proverbs. The smile expresses not only mental 
and moral health, but physical strength. What- 
ever we do, we should do cheerfully and with a 
smile. If a man walks with the exhilaration of the 
smile and with joy, he grows stronger and stronger. 
If he hangs his head, he expresses in his body a 
negative attitude ; he grows weary after a few steps. 

Primitive peoples smile imperfectly. Unculti- 
vated people laugh but rarely smile. Their pleas- 
ure is often exploded at once into a jerky roar of 
laughter. 

In the cultivated person, on the contrary, there 
is a slow, keen realization of the situation, and a 
deeper co-ordination of all the faculties of the 
mind and body, and the smile seems to radiate 
through the whole countenance. The presence of 
the smile is, therefore, a mark of refinement and 
culture. 



CAN THE SMILE BE DEVELOPED? 87 

The extravagant laugh is marked by the absence 
of the smile and it always indicates a lack of depth 
and refinement. 

In a sense, therefore, the smile is the deeper 
part of nature, and in another sense, it is the sub- 
limest character of art. In fact we find the smile 
the perfect gauge of culture. 

One of the great requisitions of expression is 
self-control. No emotion can become intense un- 
less it is reserved. It is like an engine,— if the 
steam is allowed to have free vent it will never 
give the power necessary to move the train of cars. 
The same is true of all joy, love, emotion. Lack 
of reserve means lack of control. The true smile 
shows the power of the mind in the face. Explo- 
sion of laughter, with no preceding smile, is indica- 
tive of weakness rather than of joy and turns any 
man into a noisy savage. Everyone should strug- 
gle to keep down this savage, which still survives 
in every plane of life, and in all literature. It takes 
a great deal of discipline and thoughtful culture 
and contact with the best society to eliminate the 
gush and the squeak and the blow from our laugh- 
ter. In proportion to the precedence of the smile, 
its dignity, depth and diffusion over the whole 
face, may we determine the culture of the 
man. 

As I have pointed out before in a certain sense a 
smile is the expression of the whole nature. One 
of the first things that impressed me in my early 
childhood was " Uncle Jim's " tremendous laugh. 
His "Yahw, yahw " could be heard a mile, but 
there was very little smile. In contrast to this the 
smile, that most impressed me, was that of Profes- 
sor Charles Eliot Norton, which went all over his 
face and forehead. What a difference,— a differ- 



THE SMILE 



ence in culture, in refinement, and in harmonious 
development of the higher faculties ! 

To my mind, therefore, the improvement of the 
smile would consist in bringing it more around the 
eyes, in giving flexibility to all parts of the face, 
in cultivating reserve and avoiding that sudden 
impulsive explosion which is characteristic of the 
" giggles." 

Dr. Stanley Hall, in observing smiles, said that 
the smile of some men begins around the corners 
of the eyes and that the smile of others began at 
the corners of the mouth. The smiles beginning 
at the mouth are, to those beginning at the corners 
of the eyes, as seven to five. This overlooks the 
question as to which is the more cultivated. The 
smile of the more cultivated people begins around 
the eyes. Dr. Hall has also overlooked those 
people who co-ordinate perfectly the corners of the 
eye with the mouth. The corner of the eye is not 
sufficiently responsive in many people, and this is 
the reason for the smile's beginning with the 
mouth. 

Do we not find here an explanation why many 
have condemned the laugh as vulgar? 

This explains why Lord Chesterfield rejoiced 
that no one had ever heard him laugh. 

Emerson also condemned laughter, and seemed 
to go further, sometimes, in almost condemning 
the smile. He has written : 

" Said a wise mother, ' Beware, girls, lest you 
smile, for then you show all your faults.' " 

Ah, Mr. Emerson, are you sure that any wise 
mother ever said that? Does not a smile rather 
conceal than record the faults; does it not rather 
show the virtues? 



CAN THE SMILE BE DEVELOPED? 89 

Once we can smile at our own follies, or at the 
follies of others, we are in a way to deliver our- 
selves from them. In fact, it is one of the first 
means we have of ridding ourselves of our faults, — 
to be able to laugh at them. In a certain sense, 
laughter objectifies to us something that is wrong, 
and when we can laugh at it, we put it out of coun- 
tenance. 

Laughter is the result of discovering that wrong 
is a delusion and a sham. The sense of humor is 
a discovery of the hollo wness of evil. 

Of course, there can be faults in the smile, even 
in laughter, but many have gone too far in con- 
demning laughter. Pascal regarded it as wicked. 
But, on the contrary, the hearty ringing laugh is a 
joy to all who hear it. Once we laugh at our own 
faults we are in the way to correct ourselves of 
them. When we laugh at the faults of others it 
is the first step toward separating them from our- 
selves and avoiding temptation. 

Laughter has been recommended as the best 
physical exercise for the health. It certainly is a 
good exercise for the voice. It centres the breath- 
ing, opens the throat and diffuses joy through the 
body. 

Savages seldom smile, and their laughter is 
jerky and explosive. Gloomy people who never 
laugh are generally poor in health. 

Hearty laughter should be the climax of the 
smile. Joy and laughter supported by the smile 
are beautiful and lovely. 

The true smile eliminates superficiality and arti- 
ficiality. The many people who condemn laughter 
do not understand its relation to the smile. 



xn 

MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 

In all our endeavors to develop the smile, we find 
the same numerous false and the few true methods 
which we find in the development of all true modes 
of expression. Some of these false modes of 
teaching expression may be seen more clearly to 
be false in the light of the smile. The first of these 
false methods is imitation. The little child cer- 
tainly does not laugh from imitation. I have 
watched little tots only a few weeks old laugh to 
themselves over some object, such as a red ball 
hung at a distance. 

Unconscious imitation later may do a great deal 
to pervert laughter. Imitation, as a rule, has more 
ability to degrade than to develop. The smile of 
the little child certainly does not improve by imi- 
tation. It is a pure manifestation of a sense of 
pleasure and happiness. 

Observe what a poor, hollow mockery is the imi- 
tation of someone's laughter. 

If the laugh is a " horse laugh," or is in any 
way affected or abnormal, its imitation is easy, but 
even in such a case it is only a perversion of the 
original. 

How hard, how impossible, is the imitation of a 
good, hearty, genuine laugh, or even of the simple 
smile. 

The laugh of each individual is peculiar to him- 
self ; it is an original possession, a part of every- 
one's personal identity. 

90 



MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 91 

Why has imitation, from time immemorial, been 
the chief method in teaching expression? We can 
trace protests against it through all the great 
teachers of speaking,— and yet it is still practised 
by many in this enlightened day. Sad to say, it is 
popular. People like it ; it seems so easy, so nat- 
ural. Whoever stops to think that only the ex- 
ternals and accidentals, the oddities and peculiari- 
ties of a man can be imitated? Though imitation 
tends to degrade all true expression, as well as 
character itself, modern culture still encourages it. 
It has great weaknesses, but many seem to think 
that it is the only way possible in art. 

There is nothing that has a more superficializing 
effect upon human feeling and human intuition, 
true vigor and originality of thinking, than imita- 
tion. 

Whenever a man succeeds as an actor or public 
reader, he feels that his method and what brought 
success to him is of fundamental importance, is 
an original discovery and that it belongs to all the 
race. 

While the great artist has learned to know 
better and realizes that his greatest discovery is 
his own personal element in his work, the second- 
rate actor feels that he can do humanity a great 
service by teaching it to do just as he does. Grant- 
ing that he does everything well, which is not the 
case; the fact generally being that he does some 
one thing well, he forgets that everyone else has a 
different temperament, a different personality, a 
different point of view, and that art necessarily 
implies a decided and original point of view. He 
forgets that other people have voices of totally 
different quality, pitched in a different key and of 
a different range, and that the actions of their 



L- \lMl t«i 



92 THESMILE 



bodies are different. " Imitation," says Emerson, 
" is suicide," and there is no place where this ap- 
plies more than in the work of expression. 

The imitator in art, painting, sculpture, in ex- 
pression or action, is always recognized at once, 
and his work, as second-rate, mediocre, without 
centrality, vitality, or personality. " There are 
no two men alike," said Sam Jones; " if there are, 
one of them is no account." In the same way, we 
can say there are no two Hamlets alike, no two 
Lady Macbeths, no two Lady Teazles alike, or 
if there are, one is of no account. A character to 
be artistically portrayed must be found in the 
depths of the artist's being. Even though he 
remains true to the writer of the play, he must 
still be himself. The writer of the play himself 
takes great interest and realizes the twin crea- 
tion of his fellow artist. 

In imitation of every kind, there is a struggle to 
get an effect without a cause, hence affectation and 
artificiality necessarily result with consequent dis- 
couragement and fettering of personality. 

Anyone may convince himself of this by trying 
to imitate a smile or by observing someone else do 
so. In the very nature of the case, imitation can 
be only a constriction, a caricature. It is exhibi- 
tion, not expression; manipulation, not manifes- 
tation. 

Weak as is imitation, the remedy offered for it 
has been scarcely better. What is the substitute? 
Mechanical rules, artificial analysis. 

Apply this method to the smile. Try to smile 
by rule. Try consciously and voluntarily to con- 
trol every element in the smile. How truly arti- 
ficial is the result. 

Yet this method is exactly what mechanical 



MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 93 

elocution has tried to employ. It has endeavored 
to make every element of delivery deliberative. 
It has tried to make man give every inflection ac- 
cording to some rule. Everyone must be con- 
scious and volitional. No room is left for the 
spontaneous emanation which is the very funda- 
mental characteristic of the true smile. 

We may, however, control our attention. We 
may sustain our attitude of joyous interest in a 
way to awaken character and more harmonious 
spontaneity. Hence, the smile can be improved. 
It can be reserved, controlled, guided and en- 
couraged. We can allow it to become the spon- 
taneous result of conditions. 

We can give ourselves up to a mental attitude. 
We can allow a picture to dominate us. We can 
repress a wrong feeling or chasten it or elevate 
it to a higher plane and thus affect the smile as 
its expression. 

The smile itself is a resultant, a kind of reflex 
action or response to attention. To try to produce 
by will the spontaneous elements of any expres- 
sion is ridiculous. No wonder elocution has be- 
come the synonym of artificiality. 

A theory may sound well but it needs to be 
tested by fact. Let us take the theories of me- 
chanical elocution and apply them to the smile. 

We can improve expression in all its forms, 
whether that expression be a smile, a song, a 
painting or a statue, in three ways: first ? we can 
stimulate its cause; second, we can secure better 
control of the means to be employed; and third, 
we may by careful observation, study and ex- 
periment, come to understand something of its 
nature or meaning; we may comprehend better 
its elements, its expressive value. In short, we 



94 THESMILE 



may gain command of a better vocabulary. We 
can also repress bad results and can encourage 
and develop that which is right. 

To illustrate by the smile : in the first place, we 
can awaken joy, sympathy, love and interest. 
We can develop a man's imagination and his 
powers of observation; we can harmoniously un- 
fold all his faculties. That is, we can actually 
develop a cause for the smile. 

In the second place, we can limber up the face. 
We can improve the health and agility of the whole 
body. We can remove, by direct action of the 
fingers, various constrictions from the features. 

In the third place, we may realize that a smile 
may be exploded into a jerky laugh and become 
ridiculous or offensive, on the one hand; on the 
other, we may realize that emotion may be con- 
trolled and allowed to diffuse itself through the 
whole body and the face. We can allow our whole 
nature to respond properly to the deeper influ- 
ences ; we can study our faces and see the signif- 
icance of the smile. We can see that our smile 
is only in the lips and has nothing about the corners 
of the eyes. We can render the eyes more mobile,, 

There is, of course, a tendency to self-conscious- 
ness in this, but a certain element of self-con- 
sciousness is necessary in the correction of all 
faults, all one-sidedness, all abnormal conditions. 

In a similar way, the musician must have music 
in his soul. Poets, musicians, artists of all kinds, 
need one another. Not that they may imitate but 
that they may stimulate and inspire one another. 
The music in man must be awakened by music; 
the right awakening of the imagination by the 
study of literature, by a more sympathetic observa- 
tion of Nature, by listening to the winds among the 



MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 95 

trees, the murmuring of the brooks and the sing- 
ing of the birds. He must be awakened also by 
the great musical interpretations of these things 
by the masters. He needs the musicians of other 
ages that his own individual power may be awak- 
ened. To love Beethoven does not necessarily 
mean the imitation of that master. The musician 
must have power in himself to respond to the 
music in Nature and to appreciate the artistic en- 
deavors of others. 

In short, he must have a love of music in his 
own being as the basis of all his education. 

In the second place, he must have an instru- 
ment in tune. The means must be at his com- 
mand. The best musician in the world cannot 
bring good music from an instrument that is badly 
constructed, that has discordant overtones or is 
out of tune. 

In the third place, he must know how to play. 
He must have command of every key. He must 
understand the right use of chords. He must have 
the command of his touch, of his bow, if he is a 
violinist; of his fingers and the keys, if he is a 
pianist. 

Thus he must have imaginative, creative power 
to receive an impression. He must have his in- 
strument rightly attuned and have command of 
the technique of his art. As has already been said, 
the technique must not be despised, but no one 
of the three must be slighted. One of the great 
difficulties with art schools has been that they 
give merely the technique. They say that is all 
they can do for a student. If he has art in his 
soul, he will succeed. They do nothing to awaken 
the artistic or the spiritual instincts, or a love of 
nature and beauty. At times they even repress 



96 THESMILE 



it. A student is compelled for months to draw 
from a cast. He is rarely sent out face to face 
with Nature to sketch, but the work of drawing 
should be combined with wider studies, to awaken 
interest and the artistic nature, otherwise the 
work will become drudgery. The art schools kill 
more artists than they make. 

It was the aim of the founders of the School of 
Expression not only to reform elocution, but to 
bring the speaker, the actor, and the reader to 
study their arts from all points of view. 

It was their aim, also, to lead all the art schools 
to do the same thing, that is, realize that to make 
an artist you must awaken the cause as well as 
secure a command of the technical means of the 
art, or the technical language used. 

It was one of the aims, also, of this School to 
show the world the necessity of studying man's 
primary modes of expression, such as the smile. 
The Greeks did this and the same has been true 
of every great artistic period in the history of the 
world. There is a proper realization not only of the 
generic nature of expression, but this gives some 
understanding of the character of all true artistic 
endeavor brought about by a study of man's own 
primary languages, especially his primary lan- 
guages from the earliest childhood or those which 
are most directly connected with the awakening 
of the artistic faculties. Expression in its most 
primitive and natural forms,— from the first smile 
of the little child to the simplest use of the voice 
in conversation, from the simplest motion to the 
most complex expression of the whole body, — is 
wholly neglected in education or spoken of con- 
temptuously. 

" What is the use of studying such things? " 



MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 97 

has been heard more than once. The use of 
studying such things ! How else can thought and 
feeling be co-ordinated? How else can thought 
and imagination be brought into sympathetic 
union? How else can the harmony of man's whole 
being be established? How else can man realize 
the dignity of all art and the necessity of human 
expression as the very foundation of society? 

We receive education from two sources,— im- 
pression and expression, and the two are co- 
ordinated, as in true respiration the taking of 
breath must be co-ordinated with the giving out of 
breath. 

For so-called schools of art not to include the 
primary modes of expression is most astounding. 

Everyone, of course, will acknowledge that 
there is a difference between a smile and a picture. 
The smile is more a part of ourselves. It is more 
spontaneous. The picture is a deliberative crea- 
tion, while the smile is a simple, spontaneous 
manifestation. There is a right and a wrong 
method of painting a picture, — a right way to draw 
things and a wrong way to color. 

And yet in a picture there is also something 
spontaneous, — at the climax the artist feels the 
total inadequacy of the means he employs to ac- 
complish the results he wishes. 

It is not wholly deliberative. He cannot always 
give the exact reason for doing something in a 
specific way, or explain how he brings all into a 
sympathetic oneness. The last climax comes in 
all its unity with something of the spontaneity of 
the human smile, or the whole picture is wrong. 

He may call this tone and speak of the tone of 
the picture as a result of feeling, but it can never 
result from a formula or receipt. It must come, as 



THE SMILE 



all true expression comes at the last, with the im- 
mediateness of a natural sign. 

There is a right and wrong way in every art, 
and is there not a right and wrong way to smile? 
Are there no jerky constrictions of the body, no 
twitches of the face that are wholly meaningless; 
are there no constricted members that can be 
set free? 

Is the feeling causing the smile reposeful, rest- 
ful and reserved or controlled? Can there be no 
holding back of the feelings until they become 
diffused through the whole body and the smile be 
thus improved? 

Who has not heard a sudden outburst of laugh- 
ter, the laugh indicating an undisciplined nature, 
uncultivated feeling, and an untrained voice? 

Perhaps the smile is one of the most normal of 
human actions. Certainly, it has no grammar. 

He who said, " You can never teach expression; 
you can teach only its grammar," knew as little 
of what true expression is as he knew what true 
education is. The grammar of expression, or the 
language of signs, is exactly what cannot be taught. 
To teach expression we must awaken certain 
conditions and must secure command of those 
conditions. 

If the face is normal, the muscles all over it are 
harmoniously developed; if the nervous system 
is healthful and the mind free and sympathetic, 
if there is a sense of humor and a sense of love 
for one's fellow-men, then the smile will come of 
itself. 

Even the painter of a picture who at the climax 
of its revelation is thinking of his grammar, will 
fail. He will miss the spontaneous elements of 
the smile. 



MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 99 

Grammar must be studied, but forgotten. The 
study of grammar is on the very outward periphery 
of all study of language, especially of signs. It 
must become a part of one's being. Grammar 
must become a habit of daily intercourse in speech, 
and this is still more true of the painter, the sculp- 
tor, the actor and the speaker. 

One of the hardest things to teach is action ; as 
it is the most unconscious language, calling con- 
scious attention to it is very apt to be injurious. It is 
very difficult to develop that which is spontaneous. 

One method is to show students the necessity 
of emphasizing the reception of an impression ; by 
sustaining attention and allowing the mind to 
create its own ideas in its own ways, and then 
giving up voice and body to the direct effect of the 
impression. Then let expression true and genuine 
immediately follow. 

The results of this are surprising. Not only 
those who had no action have been so awakened 
that there was more expressive movement, but 
those who had too much and chaotic action have 
been brought into emotive repose. This sentence 
from Emerson applies to all expression but it is a 
special application to the smile:— 

" The muscles, not spontaneously moved but 
moved by a low usurping wilfulness, grow tight 
about the outline of the face, with the most dis- 
agreeable sensation." 

One of the chief methods of improving the smile 
is by nature study. A true observation of plants, 
trees and bushes requires us to come face to face 
sympathetically with simple objects. Thus we 
come to feel the smile that permeates the skies 
and hills, the fields and woods. A loving observer 
seems to catch the spirit of nature's life. 



1Q0 THESMILE 



The father and mother should take the children 
to the woods. Nature is the great school-house. 
It seems to be filled with smiles. From every 
nook and corner there is a kindly invitation which 
every little child longs to accept. Who has not felt 
the smile in the spring-time, the joyous gleam 
across the snow in winter? Who has not heard 
the glad twitter of the birds, the laughter of the 
streams? It is Wordsworth who has taught us 
the true joy of nature. 

The child is free to laugh in the fields, free to 
run and shout and laugh as heartily as it pleases, 
free to enjoy its life. There its senses are awak- 
ened by the expansive activity of nature. 

Why? Because the trees and flowers, the songs 
of the birds and the rippling of the waters awaken 
a smile that will welcome the deepest truth and 
the most abstract statement. Nature is especially 
adapted to awaken the best in a human being. 

If teachers were allowed to take the children 
for half the time out into the presence of nature, 
during the other time they would learn double. 

"Through primrose tufts, in that green bower 
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths ; 
And 'tis my faith that every flower 
Enjoys the air it breathes. 

"The birds around me hopped and played, 
Their thoughts I cannot measure; 
But the least motion which they made, 
It seemed a thrill of pleasure. 

"The budding twigs spread out their fan, 
To catch the breezy air; 
And I must think, do all I can, 
That there was pleasure there." 

Ah, yes ! the smile and the joy open the avenue 
of truth. The unfolding of the child is as natural 






MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 101 

as the blooming of the flower. How unfortunate 
it is that we make children hate education, poetry, 
and even truth. 

Awaken the smile and the door is open to receive 
the most serious thought. Provoke the frown and 
all doors shut. 

There also are tragedies in nature. A lady 
looked out of her window every day at two robins 
who had a nest in a tree. It pleased her to watch 
them. When the little robins came her enjoyment 
increased. One day the male robin came home 
and called to his mate, but he called in vain ; a cat 
had taken her from him. After hours of mournful 
calling he came and looked at his motherless 
children and went to work. As a young robin will 
eat his weight every day in red worms the task 
was no light one. But he fulfilled it and brought 
them all up to the time when he stood proudly 
over them on a limb and forced them to take their 
first lesson in flying. One little fellow decidedly 
objected. The nest was all right for him. But 
Master Robin got behind him and boosted him 
out with his head. The father watched them one 
by one fly to a neighboring tree, watching all the 
while for the horrible cat. Great was his exulta- 
tion as the timid one at last made the flight vic- 
toriously. 

Erasmus Wilson, of Pittsburgh, who has de- 
lighted generations with his observations, has 
told a sadder story still. A robin had not only lost 
its mate but also one of its legs in a battle with a 
cat. Yet with only one leg, with hard toil and 
work he brought up the family. Through all this 
fearful task laid upon him, even in rain and in 
storm, a lady who watched him and tried to help 
him a little in his great task, said that he would 



102 THESMILE 



take a little time every day to perch on the top 
of a tree on his one leg and sing, triumphing over 
his trials and misfortunes. What heroic courage, 
what gratitude, what devotion, what love, what 
joy, can well up in the hearts of these blessed 
citizens of the woods ! 

I once took a course in nature study with Pro- 
fessor Hodge. I was working very hard on some 
psychological problems, and I wanted the spirit 
of enjoyment; I wanted a little guidance,— a better 
understanding of the way to study nature. 

One day we would go straight ahead, looking 
neither to the right nor to the left, to gather mos- 
quito eggs that we might watch them hatch out. 
Another day he would say, " Let us see what we 
may happen to find." Once we came to an old 
apple tree and found upon one of its limbs a lady 
bug. What was she doing? We gazed in admira- 
tion as we were made to realize her great service. 
We never interrupted nor disturbed her and I 
remember her with delight, in the tree she was 
serving. 

Such a walk with Professor Hodge was an event 
in a lifetime. The simplest object became a sub- 
ject of deep, serious study. He is a true teacher 
who can direct the attention of others to the 
deepest truths in the least things. 

Keep the heart full of great literature, of beauti- 
ful pictures, and keep high ideals. Come to the 
right source of enjoyment. Read only good books, 
great books. Look only at great and beautiful pic- 
tures. Associate as far as possible with the best 
people, with those having high ideals, with those 
whose hearts are full of joy and love and sympathy. 
Avoid with all possible care the man who is sour, 
and above all live true to the heart of nature. 



MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 103 

Light is thrown upon the proper development 
of smile and laughter and the correction of faults, 
by the distinction which has already been made 
between the three kinds of action, — gestures, 
attitudes, and bearings. 

The smile of the young child is sudden and local 
at first, but the face becomes more and more re- 
sponsive. That which was gesture becomes sym- 
pathetic attitude and modulation of the whole 
countenance. The smile becomes more reposeful 
and permanent. We see before us a revelation 
of the process of formation of character. 

If expressions of pain or displeasure are culti- 
vated, the growth of the smile is retarded, and 
the face may take on permanent perversions as 
bearings. If, on the other hand, joy and love and 
tenderness are made to fill the heart the face 
gradually takes on the bearing of the smile. 

This development of right bearings in the little 
child is not even a question of health nor a question 
of intelligence, but simply one of love and freedom 
to express itself. It is chiefly a question of right 
co-ordinations with the kindly face of the mother 
or nurse. Self-indulgence, constant answering of 
every whim will quickly develop perversions. 

These bearings in the face will become the 
bearings of the whole body, expressing and un- 
folding the being of the child. They color all ex- 
pression and form character. 

Two persons may act the same part, speak the 
same words, but how differently! What is the 
cause of the difference? Every man gives some- 
thing of himself. The bearing, in spite of all a 
man can do, emanates with the words he speaks. 
" If I had said that," bitterly sneered a man of 
one who was moving a crowd, " nobody would 



104 THESMILE 



have listened to it." The sarcastic sneer uncon- 
sciously told the reason. Character fills the sim- 
plest words with life. 

Speaking has a technique, but Cicero implied 
that speaking was something more, " it is a good 
man speaking well." 

Every child begins to develop a smile or frown 
or scowl as a permanent bearing. Why leave all 
to chance? Why forget the importance of early 
impressions and experiences? Why overlook the 
fact that the formation of bearing is simply an 
expression of the formation of character? 

Can the smile be so deepened as to become a 
bearing? This is exactly what takes place in the 
unfolding of lovely characters. 

Under the perverted smile, the conventional set 
smile that seems to want to please you, you may 
feel the hate. It is more like a mere gesture, an 
assumed gesture at that. It is not an attitude; 
it is a kind of attitudinizing. 

The deep, true, genuine smile that we enjoy is 
a gesture, an attitude and a bearing all at the same 
time. A bearing expressing habitual sympathy 
and joy, an attitude indicating a present specific 
experience. 

For a time, a bearing expresses habitual emo- 
tions,— those which are the motives of character, 
which have become characteristic and show the 
type to which a man belongs. 

Bearings are deeper than motions or attitudes. 
Men are less conscious of them. They are signs, 
not of present experience which emanates atti- 
tudes, but of the trend of all his experiences, — 
emotions which he has most indulged, attitudes 
which express the moods and feelings, motives 
and conditions which he has most cherished. 



MODES OF IMPROVING THE SMILE 105 

It is interesting to note the difference between 
wit and humor. The smile which proceeds from 
wit is more of a gesture; the smile that results 
from humor is rather an attitude or bearing. Wit 
is brisk in action and brings quick response, while 
humor is more gradual, — it permeates the whole 
man and awakens a deeper pleasure. 

Wit is sharp and cutting ; humor is always sym- 
pathetic. Wit laughs; humor smiles. Everyone 
to become humorous must remain himself. Hu- 
mor is a just sense of the interrelation of things 
and of one's own individuality to the world. Hu- 
mor is one of the most sacred of emotions. It 
brings a victory to the human being. 

Irish wit, as is well known, though often sym- 
pathetic and at times having great humor, usually 
has a little sting to it. Observe this in the follow- 
ing characteristic Irish story : 

A lawyer named O'Hara was pleading a case 
before a judge, when a donkey outside began to 
bray. " One at a time, brother O'Hara, one at a 
time," said the judge. A little later, when the 
judge was making his charge, the same donkey, 
now a little farther away, brayed again. The 
lawyer broke in and said, " Will your honor please 
to repeat that last remark? There is such an 
echo in this room that I was not able to hear what 
you said." 

Thackeray had more wit, Dickens had more 
humor. Wit awakens a sudden, jerky laugh, and 
humor is the real source of the smile. 

Dickens made the world smile sympathetically 
with the poorest boy or man on the streets of Lon- 
don. The greater education of people leads toward 
humor rather than toward wit, toward the smile 
rather than toward explosive laughter. Laughter 



106 THESMILE 



is almost like a gesture. There is little bearing 
in it, but the smile may become a part of the whole 
countenance, become one of the most characteris- 
tic bearings of a face. 

We must never forget that all true education 
is the acquisition of bearings. Our sudden emo- 
tions become motives; our exalted visions which 
come at moments, may be so cherished as to be- 
come part of our character. Thus, expression is 
a mirror of educational processes. 

Sudden transitory emotions become settled 
into the deep conditions of our lives. Hence, the 
importance of such little acts, as smiles and laugh- 
ter. The choice we make adds to the dignity of 
our mirth. Boisterous laughter is softened. The 
smile is deepened and made a part of our inner- 
most life. 



XIII 
THE SMILE AS AN EDUCATIONAL AID 

We under- estimate the importance of laughter 
and the first smile that is gesture. The true smile 
must begin as a gesture before it can become a 
bearing. It is necessary to practice all modes of 
expression in order to develop the bearings. Ex- 
pression is one of the most important means of 
unfolding and developing character. We can 
develop a deep and beautiful bearing of the smile 
on the face only by the practice of joy. We must 
cherish love and joy in the heart; we must be 
interested in others. Such an attitude is produc- 
tive of smiles and laughter, and when accom- 
panied by reserve, constant meditation and a 
serious study of nature, literature and our fellow- 
men, the smile will gradually become first an atti- 
tude, then a bearing. 

Not only can we educate the smile, but the smile 
is a great help to education. 

In the first place, if a teacher will study the 
smile of a little child he can frequently discern 
inner conditions which act as a hindrance to the 
unfolding of the child's nature. Whenever we 
note what has been called by Scott that " contor- 
tion of the visage intended to be a smile," it may 
not be, as indicated, a suggestion of hypocrisy. It 
indicates sometimes constrictions or fear. The 
child may have been too greatly repressed and 
needs to be made to feel at home with others. 

107 



108 THESMILE 



Frequently children are like plants in a dark cellar. 
There is need of fellowship, encouragement, a 
chance to put forth endeavor. A smile of apprecia- 
tion may awaken a smile of conscious realization. 

Is it not one of the highest functions of educa- 
tion to awaken joy? 

I was astounded lately to hear an official of a 
great art museum say, " Our museum is not an 
educational institution. It does not exist to give 
people knowledge." 

What a narrow conception of education did this 
man have ! He was asked, " What does it try to 
give people? " " Joy," he answered. But does 
it give people joy? When people go into an art 
museum and fail to get the point of view of a pic- 
ture they begin to feel a sense of distance, and 
to me in many of our art museums the faces are 
very sad. " Before the art of Pizarro," said Philip 
Gilbert Hammerton, " I feel like a stranger who 
needs to be introduced." If before the interesting 
art of one of his contemporaries a great art critic 
could feel in that way and so frankly confess it, 
what must be the feeling of the ordinary man in 
one of our art museums? Does he not need an 
introduction? Does he not need to be awakened 
in some way, introduced to what he ought to re- 
ceive, what he should enjoy? 

If the art museum is not an educational institu- 
tion, must it not remain a mere show? The word 
" education " must be widened. The art museum 
should exist to educate people's imagination and 
cultivate their taste, to awaken feeling, to educate 
ideals, to develop power to perceive beauty and 
is this not one of the highest phases of education? 

The art museum exists for the average man, for 
the whole community. It is intended to render a 



THE SMILE AN EDUCATIONAL AID 109 

great educational service not merely to school 
children in their study of history, but to inspire 
them to realize the spirit of the historical events 
they have studied. Whoever comes in touch with 
the spirit of Greece by the mere perusal of a 
record of events? These are necessary, but they 
must be supplemented by other great works of 
art, those things which embody the spirit. We 
can never learn to know Greece so long as we re- 
main in ignorance of the Parthenon, the Iliad and 
the (Edipus. Just as we frequent a library to 
understand something of the Greek literature, 
we should visit a museum to feel the spirit of 
their great art. A man by taking a Greek poem 
home with him may meditate over it and come 
into a realization of its beauty, but it requires the 
same concentration and sympathy to appreciate 
an art work which quite as directly, if not more 
immediately, reveals the spirit and life of a people. 

Education is not the mere acquisition of facts. 
A museum of natural history serves a great end, 
but because an art museum does not present facts 
in the same manner may it not be in a higher sense 
educational? 

It gives more than facts : it awakens the imagi- 
nation, the feelings and the sympathies. It leads 
to a deeper and truer understanding of the possi- 
bilities of human nature. 

Is it not one of the highest aims of education to 
awaken the enjoyment of people, to teach them 
what to enjoy and how to enjoy? It cannot be 
taught by dictation; can be accomplished only by 
the direction of attention. 

The teacher performs the simple act of introduc- 
tion, but leaves the student to study deeper. The 
best and highest art, no less than Nature herself, 



110 THE SMILE 



requires an introduction to most men and women. 
It should be and can be introduced to children. 

The time is coming when there will be a great 
transformation of the art museums, when they 
will be less a treasure house or mausoleum of art 
works for the few, but rather a place where great 
pictures and statues will be recognized as some- 
thing to be seen by all and felt by all, such a place 
too where everyone will be introduced to great art 
in a way that will lead to a true appreciation. 

True art is a temple into which everyone must 
enter in solitude, but a true teacher can indicate 
the path. In one sense art is an expression of the 
racial in us and to develop the race in us art is 
necessary. 

Expression is necessary to the growth and de- 
velopment of every human being. Have you ever 
seen a child that never played? I remember one 
especially. She had been a mother to many little 
brothers and sisters. Her father was a poor 
workman. Her mother, according to some minds, 
was not what she ought to have been,— she drank 
whenever she had a chance. The whole woe of 
the family had fallen upon this little girl. How 
sad was her face! How serious! I never saw it 
light up with a smile. Like an angel of mercy she 
served patiently without a murmur, father and 
mother and every member of the family. There 
was no frown, no antagonistic look from her soft 
eyes. Only a look of submission, of endurance 
without one ray of hope. Before that sad face you 
felt as a stranger. You stood before the beautiful 
rosebud, withered before it ever bloomed. 

Do you make enough of joy in education? I 
once heard a leading man say, " I attended term 
after term under the instruction of one who felt 



THE SMILE AN EDUCATIONAL AID 111 

he must drive the information into us by force,—- 
one who never smiled. Then there came one who 
was full of smile. He was not so good a scholar 
as the other, it was said, but I learned more under 
him in one month than under the other in all the 
years I had been studying with him." 

I have thought that sometimes the children 
need more help, more sympathetic contact, in 
their games than in their studies. 

It is in their games that normal feelings are 
awakened; there they can smile and enjoy the 
success of others, laugh at their own failures. The 
game is born of deep human instinct. Certainly 
we know the child is more serious at play than at 
work. 

Certainly, the right smile, the right laugh at the 
right time is one of the greatest and most im- 
portant achievements in education. 

In a certain sense we cannot teach anything. 

" No man," said Schlegel, " can give anything 
to his fellow-man but himself." 

What, after all, is teaching? 

As I look back over my past life and think of 
some of the fifty great teachers I have had, — I 
rarely remember the particular things they taught 
me. The things I remember are some side issues 
which bore only indirectly if at all upon the sub- 
ject under discussion. 

It was the contact with their great souls that 
meant something to me, — the awakening that 
came to me from a touch with their personalities. 

No teacher ever gave a good lesson in which he 
did not learn something himself. The best lesson 
was given when he learned most himself. 

Is not teaching, after all, a contact of soul with 
that great truth of which each of us knows so 



112 THE SMILE 



little? Is not teaching a sharing in discovery? 
Teaching is not giving to another, but a receiving 
by both of us of a higher vision of the truth. One 
may know much more than the other of some sub- 
ject, but, as they face it, truth is ever regarded 
by the one who knows most about it as superior 
to himself. One may know a little more than 
another of some truth as they face it, but the one 
who knows the most will be the most teachable 
and will be apt to learn most. 

When two people stand side by side, both get 
a higher vision than one can alone; this is true 
teaching. 

So-called instruction is the very lowest kind of 
teaching. It has its place but it regards merely 
the approaches to truth ; simply how to investigate ; 
what kind of books to read; what part of nature 
to study ; how to conduct an experiment and a hint 
as to what man must look for in his own observa- 
tions. 

Truth is a great temple into which each person 
must go alone, but two can approach the temple 
and may be very near to each other, but will only 
be partially conscious in their sublimest moments 
of the meaning and importance of truth to each 
other. 

How little can be given from one human being 
to another by dictation, by domination! Educa- 
tion is a leading out, an unfolding, an awakening. 
It is the bringing of an individual into conscious- 
ness of himself and a consciousness of his source, 
and the consciousness of his brothers. 

Teach a smile? Yes, it is the one thing that 
brings soul near to soul, — the basis of all teaching. 

The smile denotes the union of two beings learn- 
ing from and with each other. 



THE SMILE AN EDUCATIONAL AID 113 

In the old days, especially in the time of the 
Romans, education was a very cruel process. 
One old teacher of the Middle Ages has recorded 
faithfully the number of whippings and other 
forms of punishment he had given as if it were 
the greatest of virtues and the highest aim of his 
life. 

If we look through the reforms in education we 
will find a great change. No longer do we call 
the pedagogue " the servant who drives the un- 
willing student to school," as the etymology of 
the word indicates. He is a companion and friend 
who leads the pupil to something that becomes a 
mutual delight and joy. It is from the teacher 
who is loved that the student learns. 

Not only is the smile an aid to education; it is 
now a necessity. Love is the fulfilment of the 
law, — not only of the spirit but the development 
of human relationship. 

An old adage tells us, " Love is blind." This 
is untrue. " Love," says Emerson, " is not a 
hood, but an eye waterer." 

The smile also denotes teachableness. Of all 
virtues teachableness is perhaps the supreme. 
Any teacher has seen one of great ability outdone 
by another of lesser ability simply because one 
was teachable, tried hard and developed, the 
other with pride for smartness grew less and less 
profound, more and more brilliant, but never un- 
folded or caught the higher vision. 

Carlyle has recorded a peculiar fable which 
illustrates something which is often overlooked,— 
that the pupil who learns and grows most quickly 
may not be of so true and profound a nature as 
the one who is slower to unfold. 

" What is the use of thee, thou gnarled sapling?" 



114 THESMILE 



said a young larch tree to a young oak. " I grow 
three feet in a year, thou scarcely so many inches ; 
I am straight and taper as a reed, thou straggling 
and twisted as a loosened withe." 

" And thy duration," answered the oak, " is 
some third part of a man's life and I am appointed 
to flourish for a thousand years. Thou art felled 
and sawed into paling, where thou rottest and 
art burned with a single summer; of me are 
fashioned battle ships, and I carry mariners and 
heroes into unknown seas." 

" The richer a nature," continues Carlyle, 
" the harder and slower its development. Two 
boys were once of a class in the Edinburgh gram- 
mar school. John ever trim, precise, and dux; 
Walter ever slovenly, confused and dolt. In due 
time, John became Baillie John of Hunter- Square, 
and Walter became Sir Walter Scott of the Uni- 
verse. The quickest and completest of all vege- 
tables is the cabbage." 



XIV 
NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE? 

All human emotions may be divided into two 
classes ; positive and negative. 

The smile is primarily positive. It expresses a 
positive attitude of the mind. 

It is important to distinguish the positive from 
the negative emotions. 

The negative feeling tends to kill itself. It is 
short lived. It poisons everyone. It brings pain 
and sickness, and shortens life. 

A positive emotion brings health and peace. 
It assimilates, strengthens, and expresses power. 
It brings greater pleasure ; it brings union with our 
fellow- men and permanent satisfaction with our- 
selves. It deepens experience and prolongs life. 

Positive emotions seem to place man in his right 
relation in the universe. 

The most important positive emotions are, 
probably, love and joy. 

Joy, love, courage, these are realizations of 
one's birthright. 

Negative emotions, on the contrary, deny man 
his birthright. Fear, hate, grief, cause us to whine 
and degrade us; they remove our candlestick out 
of its place so that our light ceases to shine. 

The true smile expresses the positive emotions ; 
is always positive, not negative. It is the very 
contradiction of all negative emotions. 

Life is a positive thing. A crown not to be won 

115 



116 T H E S M I L E 



by mere denials. " Thou shalt not " belongs to the 
old dispensation; "Blessed," to the new. 

People seem to think that sin is the most real 
thing in this world,— that darkness is more real 
than light. 

Not so; we can bring light through a tube or 
along a wire but how can we transmit darkness? 
If we turn off the light, its absence becomes dark- 
ness; but when we turn on the light again the 
darkness vanishes. How then, dare we say that 
darkness is as real as light — that evil is as sub- 
stantial as good? 

Here is one of the greatest lessons to be learned 
in life. 

Ulysses, or to use his Greek name, Odysseus, 
stopped the ears of his sailors with wax and tied 
himself to a mast that he might hear but not yield 
to the seductive song of the sirens. Orpheus sailed 
by in safety with no rope about him and with no 
wax in his ears, because his soul was filled with 
sweeter music than even the sirens could utter. 
He who has cultivated a love for his race and whose 
soul is filled with sympathy and tenderness can 
smile at an insult. 

There is a parable of an empty heart in the 
New Testament which is seldom read and then 
possibly, rarely understood. 

A man seems to have cast out " the unclean 
spirit " by resolutions or by his own will. 

Then he walketh through dry places, seeking 
rest and findeth none. Then he saith, " I will 
return to my house from whence I came out." 
And when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, 
and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh seven 
other spirits more wicked than himself, and they 
enter and dwell therein. And the last state of 



NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE? 117 

that man is worse than the first. The trouble 
was that the man's heart was empty. 

He who can smile is victor over himself, — over 
his lower impulses; and he also becomes victor 
over all his antagonists. He wins a victory that 
does not crush his enemies, but makes them 
better, makes them ashamed of their degrada- 
tion, and turns them into friends. 

Surely the smile is one of the most powerful 
weapons in life's path. 

It is moral, it is ethical, it is spiritual. It is one 
of the most potent tools given to the race to con- 
quer hatred and antagonism. 



XV 
THE SMILE AND HEALTH 

The distinction between the positive and the 
negative in human feeling explains a fact that is 
almost universally recognized, namely, that cheer- 
fulness and the smile are necessary to health. 

Some of the oldest and truest proverbs, born out 
of the very heart of the race, refer to the necessity 
of enjoyment to health. 

It is a well-known fact that the most successful 
physicians accomplish much of the good results 
which follow from their ministrations by the genial 
smile and the cheerful voice they carry into the 
sick room. Their presence brings courage and 
confidence. 

I have heard recently of a physician, in fact, of 
a class of physicians, who give no medicine at all 
but prescribe only laughter. 

The smile and laughter directly express health. 
The presence of the smile is the test of the health 
of a little child. The true smile not only expresses 
physical health, but expresses mental and moral 
health as well. 

How does the smile or laughter affect the 
health? 

In the first place, they cause activity in the ex- 
tensor or expansive muscles ; they increase breath- 
ing; they stimulate circulation; they bring all the 
vital functions and organs into harmonious ac- 
tivity. 

118 



THE SMILE AND HEALTH 119 

There are really but three actions of the human 
body — expansion, contraction and modulation. 
Expansion expresses life, joy, exultation, courage; 
contraction expresses intellectual effort, control, 
repression, uneasiness, and fear. 

Modulation, which is more or less a union of 
expansion and contraction, but in fact, a normal 
union with expansion in a natural ascendency and 
only enough contraction to regulate and guide, 
expresses sympathy, tenderness, gentleness and 
love. It manifests a perfect balance between 
thinking and feeling— between spontaneous ac- 
tions and deliberative regulations — between the 
work of that which is finite and that which is more 
the result of the infinite. Modulation is a sym- 
pathetic union of man's highest realizations, — 
love, contentment, and poetic exultation. 

Accordingly, normal modulation is expressive 
not only of physical but also of spiritual health. 
In order to develop in all parts of the body modula- 
tion, which is seen to its perfection in the ideal 
smile, it is necessary to accentuate harmoniously 
all the expansive activities of the body. This de- 
velops not only grace, power of expression, but 
also health. 

Laughter seems to be not only the most im- 
mediate expression of health, but the most direct 
expression of life, 

Take, for example, a so-called " cold." What 
better remedy for a cold than to go away by one- 
self and laugh for half an hour. This laughter 
stimulates the circulation and removes congestion 
from local parts. Hot lemonade heats the centre 
of the body and thus stimulates circulation and 
in a similar way carries off congestion. From a 
hot lemonade and especially from drugs poured 



120 THESMILE 



into the stomach there is always danger of re- 
action and we take, as everybody says, " more 
cold." 

Laughter has no abnormal re-action. The re- 
sults are more permanent. In proportion to the 
spiritual character of the remedy applied will there 
be an absence of reactionary tendencies. I have 
never come in contact with physicians who pre- 
scribe nothing but laughter, but I have well 
realized the results of laughing heartily and con- 
tinuously for many minutes. Nothing will stimu- 
late circulation more or have a better effect upon 
the nervous system; nothing will agitate equally 
well and move to normal activity the vital organs. 

There is really no reason for being sick. It is 
a negative condition, the result of a negative state 
of mind and the true remedy is to establish a posi- 
tive condition of mind. 

Laughter should not be performed in a me- 
chanical, perfunctory way. True laughter results 
from imagination, sympathy, courage, confidence, 
and a realization that error is absolutely ridiculous, 
— that only truth is permanent and real. 

When tempted to become despondent or angry 
we should look at the ridiculous side of things, 
we should realize and express sympathy rather 
than antagonism, joy rather than discouragement. 
We can see the ridiculous side of a situation and 
by training our sense of humor we may no longer 
be victims of folly and illusion. 

When we laugh with a man or even at him he 
soon sees the ridiculousness of the situation him- 
self. There is nothing so contagious as laughter. 
The greatest difficulties have been conquered by 
a smile or a joyous laugh. 

There is one time in the day when we especially 



THE SMILE AND HEALTH 121 

need laughter, and that is on awakening and on 
retiring. In a companion book these profound 
questions of how to wake and how to go to sleep 
are discussed, but we need line upon line to em- 
phasize the importance of these hours and the 
importance of laughter. 

On first waking up the birds sing their sweetest 
song and all the animals seem to awaken with 
greatest joy. Rarely, however, is this true of man. 
Many wake up with a whine — with the very op- 
posite of a smile. 

How greatly is the man to be pitied who dresses 
with a whine and a frown on his face, and who 
comes down to breakfast and has to have a hot 
cup of coffee to wake him up, — his voice in a 
wheeze and his body collapsed and not ready to 
do its work. The poor stomach must be made a 
lever to bring the man into wakefulness, when a 
smile and a few stretches could do the work and 
do it better as the sunshine makes the world. 

Begin the day as the bird, with a song and a 
word of praise, or as the old cow does, in giving 
the stretches which she seems to enjoy so much. 
Every cell and fibre seems to laugh at the instinc- 
tive exertion. 



XVI 
ETHICS OF AMUSEMENT 

To cause people to smile is the aim of the art 
of entertainment, of amusement. 

Is there any principle that will furnish a ra- 
tional test of the difference between a low and a 
high amusement? 

Over thirty years ago, I was calling with some 
friends upon the poet Whittier. Celia Thaxter 
came in from a visit to a woman's reformatory. 
" How hast thou succeeded?" said Mr. Whittier. 
" Oh! " she exclaimed, " I never saw such a lot 
of blank faces. I could not awaken the least re- 
sponse at first, but I read the * Shorn Lamb' 
and to use a sailor's phrase, that ' fetched them ' : 
I pleased them, anyway." 

" If thou hast pleased them," replied the great- 
hearted poet, " thou hast done them good." 

Here, then, is a principle that came to me as I 
looked into that kindly face:- — if a man is pleased 
above the plane of his daily experiences in the 
direction of his ideal, he receives good. If he is 
pleased below the average plane of his experience, 
he receives harm. 

Browning has said that the ideal of the worst 
man in the world is higher than the actual of the 
best man in the world. No matter who the man 
may be, if he is pleased in the direction of his ideals 
he is awakened and inspired and helped. 

There is a low sensual smile, a pure intellectual 
smile, and a deeper, spiritual smile. 

122 







ETHICS OF AMUSEMENT 123 

Blessed is he who multiplies and especially 
elevates the smiles of his fellow-men ! 

Can we do anything for the man, or with him, 
till we have made him smile? When we displease 
anyone we shut him out from ourselves. Is it such 
a degraded and weak thing, therefore, to endeavor 
to please our fellow-men? 

Does not the kind of smile that is awakened 
depend upon what we have in view and the way 
we do it? 

May it not be the first and most necessary step 
toward the effort of human elevation? 

This aspect of the smile brings us to an impor- 
tant distinction, which is often overlooked. What 
is the difference between the effect of a low amuse- 
ment and that of a high amusement? Is there any 
way in which we can rank the character of enter- 
tainments? Is there anything that will guide us 
in distinguishing between what is known in Eng- 
land as the " legitimate " from the " illegitimate " 
drama? 

Smiles may be produced by low means as well 
as by higher methods. While the higher methods 
are most important in the elevation of the race, in 
awakening the ideals of young minds, stimulating 
in them better, deeper and purer human sym- 
pathies, low amusements, which may seem to 
please more quickly are among the most influen- 
tial means for the degradation of character that 
can be found. Next to low actions themselves, 
the sympathetic contemplation of that which is 
coarse, or whatever perverts the smile, poisons 
the very fountain head of human experience and 
ideals. 

The play, according to Shakespeare, is the thing. 

What are the forms of the drama? What is 



124 THESMILE 



the principle that separates these forms? Which 
of these appeals to the higher nature, which to the 
lower, and why? 

Drama is usually divided into four forms: 
burlesque, farce, comedy, tragedy. What dis- 
tinguishes these from one another? 

A mode of expression which may be truly inter- 
preted and genuinely artistic in burlesque, may 
be utterly out of place in comedy; things permis- 
sible in comedy may be absolutely out of place in 
tragedy. 

Can no light be thrown upon the distinctions 
between burlesque, farce, comedy and tragedy, 
by the smile? 

Artists sometimes present sublime things in 
such an exaggerated and extravagant way as to 
pervert them. It is but a step from the sublime to 
the ridiculous and it is very easy for the crude ar- 
tist, who lacks ideals or a high conception of his 
art, to take that step. Artists are more apt to 
do this in the higher than in the lower forms of 
art. The higher the art, the more liable the artist 
is to fail. 

Some men think that because they happen to 
be reading " Macbeth " or " Hamlet " they are, 
therefore, in the realm of the highest art. 

An amateur actor, after he had murdered cer- 
tain lines from " Hamlet," at which the audience 
howled and hissed, stood in the wings and ex- 
claimed in anger, " Listen to the vulgar mob howl- 
ing at Shakespeare." 

A little burlesque might have revealed to him 
that he was not in the sphere of Shakespeare's 
tragedy at all. He rendered those sublime lines 
in a spirit which tended toward burlesque. 

The dramatic arts are the most potent for good 



ETHICS OF AMUSEMENT 125 

or evil of all forms of art. They concern the smiles 
and the tears of human beings. How can we 
distinguish between what is low and what is 
high? 

Let me further illustrate some of these forms 
of the drama. Once, a company devoted to dra- 
matic burlesque staged a scene from "Romeo 
and Juliet " in an endeavor to caricature the ex- 
travagance of modern stage setting and scenery. 

The actor repeated Romeo's words, " By yonder 
moon I swear." Laying his hands upon his breast, 
he looked around for the moon, but for some 
reason it had not risen, so he called out, "You 
moon man, pull up the moon," whereupon the 
moon suddenly arose— pulled up by a string. The 
actor went on repeating the words in his extrava- 
gant manner. 

Here was a true criticism from the burlesque 
point of view. It caricatured the extravagance in 
the production of even Shakespeare in our day. 
The burlesque is a necessary mode of criticism. 
It is a necessary mode of criticism upon art. 

It is a blessed thing that sometimes a friend, 
instead of weeping with us, laughs at us. Thus 
even burlesque becomes a part of life. 

In the newspapers of to-day caricature serves a 
very wonderful purpose. It gives not only the 
quickest but often the deepest criticism upon some 
situation or character. 

Another form of dramatic art is farce. Farce is 
the laughing, not so much at people, as at a situa- 
tion. It is extravagant, but not founded on the 
caricature of characters. It is very close to bur- 
lesque and is often confused with it. 

The power to laugh at a situation is one of the 
greatest powers in the human heart. How many 



126 THESMILE 



unpleasant things have been averted; how many 
times has a brave man controlled himself by being 
able to see the ridiculous element in the situation ; 
and how many of the worst things in the world 
have vanished when laughed at ! 

When we laugh with a man we are on a higher 
plane of art than when we laugh at him or at a 
ridiculous situation. This is why comedy is so 
high a form of art — why it is serious. It is founded 
in a more genuine, sympathetic way than burlesque 
or farce. In comedy we laugh with the character 
represented. The subject is not a caricature of 
any art work or poor artistic endeavor, nor is it the 
expression of a ridiculous situation. Its subject 
is the lives and peculiarities of specific types of 
human beings. 

Garrick, when asked whether he preferred to 
act in tragedy or in comedy, replied, " I can act 
tragedy every day in the week, but comedy is 
serious business." 

The highest form of dramatic art is tragedy. 
In comedy we laugh with people; in tragedy we 
weep with them. Both are serious and bring us 
into the very highest phases of human sym- 
pathy. 

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between 
comedy and tragedy. The Merchant of Venice, 
for example, is called a comedy. Henry A. Clapp, 
a dramatic critic, contends that it is a tragedy. 
Taking the first four acts and omitting the last, 
there is much to be said in favor of this view. 
The character of Shylock is serious. It represents 
perversion of a national character. According to 
Aristotle, the determining factor, that which de- 
cides the dignity of art, is a " higher truth and a 
higher seriousness." The distinction between 



ETHICS OF AMUSEMENT 127 

comedy and tragedy is sometimes settled by a 
very easy scheme. Tragedy is a play in which 
someone is killed, and comedy, one in which no 
one is killed. According to this, the Merchant 
of Venice would be considered a comedy. 

Compare this play with Cymbeline. Merely be- 
cause Cloten is killed, Cymbeline is regarded by 
most people as a tragedy. The fact is overlooked 
that everyone is glad that Cloten is killed. He 
richly deserved his end. Certainly his death 
would not make Cymbeline a tragedy. If it is a 
tragedy, it must be on account of the seriousness 
of the character of Imogen. 

In the highest Shakespearean tragedy we both 
laugh and weep with men. The same is often true 
of his comedies. The difference must be decided 
by the predominance of smiles or tears. Both 
may be dignified. 

A smile may be almost as supreme as a tear. 
A smile may shine through tears and yet not de- 
grade them. Both may express sympathy, and 
they are closely conjoined in human life. The 
distinction between comedy and tragedy may, 
after all, be somewhat academic. Shakespeare 
certainly has not left their distinction clearly 
marked. 

Melodrama, though extremely popular, is a 
low form of dramatic art. Why? Because it lacks 
a smile. The audience is kept under a strain by 
a most serious situation. It may cause tears, until 
at the last everything is so completely changed 
that the relief hardly brings a smile. The trans- 
formation is often so sudden and so foreign to real 
truth that we are unable to smile. Sometimes we 
may actually laugh at the artificiality of the situa- 
tion. Thus, melodrama may become a kind of 



128 THE SMILE 



tragical farce. It is the situation and not the char- 
acter that is mainly at stake. 

The drama reflects in its deepest and truest 
aspect two sides of human endeavor: one, victory 
through man's effort or through fortuitous circum- 
stances; the other the seeming failure but real 
victory which may come through death. Human 
victory may be gained in either way. 

Melodrama is really a juggling with tragedy, 
the reducing of tragedy to mere situation and cir- 
cumstance ; it is human art monkeying with human 
destiny. 

Colley Gibber once rewrote the tragedy of King 
Lear. He killed the villain, Edmund. Cordelia 
lived. The king of France he got rid of. Edgar 
and Cordelia were wedded and become respec- 
tively King and Queen of England. This pro- 
cedure pleased the superficiality of a superficial 
age. But how untrue to life and to Shakespeare 
himself. 

Melodrama is not a serious form of art. There 
can be no great art without truth or true interpre- 
tation, manifestation or reflection of truth. 

Primarily there are only two forms of the drama, 
comedy and tragedy. Both of these reflect human 
history. Comedy reflects the joyous outcome of 
heroic endeavor, the transformation wrought by 
time and circumstances. Tragedy also reveals 
victory, but the victory which comes through 
death. 

It is easy to find the highest dignity of man or 
his lowest degradation in the character of his 
smile. The vulgar story which seems to be the 
chief source of amusement to many minds, de- 
grades both the relator and the listener. It is 
a good principle to remember that all true art lies 



ETHICS OF AMUSEMENT 129 

above man's actual experience in the direction of 
his ideals. Whatever lies below the ordinary 
plane of his feeling, whatever seems to please him 
below his habitual level of thought and emotion 
tends to ruin his character. 

The coarse smile is the worst of all perversions. 
Every form of art has its place. There is such a 
thing as artistic burlesque. As I have said, bur- 
lesque is the lowest form of dramatic art. It is a 
kind of criticism; it may help people to discover 
weaknesses in some art which ought to be of a 
higher type but which is on a low plane. 

We may have farce of a high order. The theme 
of farce is not character but situation, and in it 
there are ridiculous situations. They pass beyond 
the bounds of comedy into that of farce, and ar- 
tistic farce makes us conscious of this. In farce we 
laugh at a man; in comedy we laugh with him. 
Comedy, therefore, is not a low form of art because 
it is true and awakens a noble smile. It illustrates 
more of the deep things of our nature. In tragedy, 
if there is a smile, it is like the fool in King Lear ; 
beneath his smile we hear the sob and feel treas- 
ured tears. 

Another test of the dignity or lack of dignity 
in all the arts, but especially those which cause 
the smile, is simplicity. The burlesque is extrava- 
gant, so is farce, so is melodrama. Hence, they 
are of a lower order, while comedy and tragedy 
are simple, true and genuine. Hence, they belong 
to a higher rank. It is a question of truth to life; 
it is a question of truthfully mirroring human ex- 
perience. Those who interpret human character 
must interpret correctly. Truth alone has power 
to elevate and ennoble. 

Public readers, so-called impersonators, as 



130 THE SMILE 



well as actors, would do well to consider carefully 
the dignity of their art. 

Impersonators and reciters of all sorts, extrava- 
gant and untruthful interpreters, have almost 
ruined the noble art. Charlotte Cushman and 
others gave, forty years ago, high ideals for the 
platform. Sydney Lanier and others expressed 
enthusiasm over the possibilities of the new dra- 
matic art ; but there came along a lot of self-styled 
impersonators who tried to imitate all the methods 
of the stage, who failed to recognize the difference 
between the dramatic stage and dramatic plat- 
form art, and did not follow Charlotte Cushman, 
who was artist enough to appreciate the greatness 
of the difference. 

All sorts of unnatural extravagance and false 
interpretations have followed, working great harm. 
Many readers have either cut down the popular 
plays or used popular stories or low-class literature 
and are in danger of degrading the whole work of 
vocal interpretation. The artistic and simple in- 
terpretation of literature, the rendering of Brown- 
ing's monologues, the recognition that these forms 
of dramatic platform art have wonderful possibili- 
ties is one of the artistic advancements of our 
time. Readers, however, must be careful to rise 
to the dignified study of the art, so that they may 
truthfully interpret the best in literature. The 
old and more solid dramas must not be replaced 
by superficial things, in an endeavor to be popular. 
We must not cease to hold to the fact that each 
art tells something which no other art can say, 
and must respect its own independence. 

A great artistic age is always shown in the effect 
of art upon the simplest things. The Greeks 
could make a common jug more beautiful than 



ETHICS OF AMUSEMENT 131 

moderns do their public monuments. The frag- 
ments of their every-day utensils often fill the 
modern mind with wonder. 

If we are to be an artistic people, the time 
usually worse than wasted in every household, 
should be devoted by all to endeavoring to make 
something beautiful, or in some way to realize 
the ideal. Every child should be awakened to 
create something ideal. 

What greater joy is to be found than in seeing 
something beautiful unfolding before our eyes, 
under our own hands? 

William Morris said, " Art is joy put into our 
work." That is to say, in the vocabulary of this 
book, art is working with a smile. Work that may 
be drudgery to some men, when joy is put into 
the heart of it, becomes a fine art. 

Here is a carpenter making a chair. He carves 
the head of a dog on the end of its square arm, 
and lo, you have a thing of beauty, — something 
that has higher value because you have the delight 
of the man in his work. 

Some people think that art is something very 
exceptional, very rare, unusual, something only 
for the wealthy. On the contrary, art belongs to 
every-day life. It is working in obedience to the 
imagination under the stimulus of an ideal. It is 
putting love, affection and delight into the things 
we do. It is giving expression to our better selves, 
to our higher feelings, not doing things perfunc- 
torily just because we have to. Art is work with 
a smile of joy. 

Dishwashing may seem to be the furthest re- 
moved from art, but one that loves beauty does 
not look at the dirt, but at the dish that is being 
separated from what does not belong to it. 



132 THESMILE 



" What are you doing? " said a neighbor to a 
man who stood with a hose pouring the water upon 
a pile of dishes on his lawn. " I am cleaning up, 
the missus comes home to-morrow." He was no 
artist. He was working under compulsion. 

The ideal sweeper sees the clean room under the 
dirt — the desk as a clean place for work, not for 
chaos and litter. (I am glad the reader cannot 
see my desk at this time). 

Old Teufelsdroeckh was wrong. Dirt and con- 
fusion in a room where one works are a hindrance, 
not a help. " Art," somebody has said, " is the 
removal of rubbish." 

A wise man understood the matter perfectly 
when he said to a literary worker, " Your illusion 
of overwork is due to such a vast number of un- 
finished things around you. Take hold of one 
thing and stick to it until it is finished. Then you 
will feel rested and like a new man. Nothing else 
will help you." 

The true artist sees the beautiful book that is 
to come forth from a vast number of scratched and 
dirty sheets. 

Life is the greatest of all the arts, and expression 
is next to it because action and voice modulations, 
the true natural languages, are the direct signs of 
the motive springs of life. Tones and actions in 
their unity as interpreting words are closer to 
nature than is possible for any other art. 

There is an element of truth in what some 
people say, that vocal expression is not art at all, 
that action of the body and the modulations of the 
voice are too near to Nature, that they cannot be 
sufficiently objectified to make art. They are 
only the material of art. 

All art, however, is near to nature, the nearer the 



ETHICS OF AMUSEMENT 133 

better. It is not the objectifying of art that makes 
it art. Nor is it the permanent record of expres- 
sion. Art is art on account of the depth of our ex- 
perience it expresses and the truthfulness of its 
revelation, whether it lives a thousand years or 
dies the moment it is born. 

We must, however, recognize that it is through 
the glory of these languages and their artistic 
control that we do get so close to Nature. But 
for this very reason there is great danger of violat- 
ing artistic principles. 

The other arts are a little more artificial and 
objective, and external. Even song, though hav- 
ing a normal basis, has modulations of pitch which 
are not found in the more natural modulations in 
speech. 

The other arts are, therefore, reflections or 
records of expression. They are human endeavors 
to embody objectively and permanently the pro- 
cesses and modes of expression in Nature. 

Hence, the laws of the arts are found, as I say 
again and again, in some natural expression, such 
as the smile. Expression is the direct effect of the 
activity of being upon the action of the body. 

The more immediately the emotion causes the 
outward motion, the greater the significance or 
expressiveness. 

This is what the smile teaches us regarding ex- 
pression. It manifests directly — immediately — 
the true understanding of the nature of human 
life; a certain sense of gladness to meet even 
difficulties, — to regard the hill of difficulty before 
us not as an obstacle but an opportunity; and a 
teachable and receptive attitude toward life. 

The walk that is a deep co-ordination of joy 
and expansion expresses courage and the fact 



134 THE SMILE 



that at every moment there is breathed into the 
man the breath of life,— that his creation is an 
eternal act of an eternal being, that he moves for- 
ward with confidence and strength. 

Human art must reflect this intimacy between 
cause and effect. In proportion as it does so, will 
it produce the desired impression, not only to 
entertain, but to arouse and inspire. 

It seems a most commonplace assertion to say 
that in all the arts, man must find their central 
laws and principles in the most direct of all modes 
of expression. 



XVII 
THE SMILE AND SUCCESS 

This is the age for books on success. Every- 
body has to get off some kind of lecture on effi- 
ciency or write a work on salesmanship. By ac- 
cident I made an investigation of one of the most 
illustrious schools of salesmanship in the country. 
I saw advertised a little book which I wished, 
and as I looked up and saw the sign in a large 
city I thought I would go in and purchase it. I 
was also a little curious at the moment to see 
what the institution was like, and to have a 
practical example of their marvellous theories. 

I entered the door and was met by a handsome 
attendant ; I asked for the book, or if she could tell 
me in what department I might find it. The at- 
tendant did not know of any such department, but 
talked about the greatness of the institution, and 
called a gentleman to whom I repeated my simple 
request. He told me about their methods of 
teaching salesmanship and of the great work they 
were doing for people. To them I was only an 
applicant— a supposed victim. I tried to disabuse 
his mind by telling him I simply called to purchase 
a book, but he turned me over to another gentle- 
man who began a similar talk about the institution 
and the efficiency of their methods of teaching 
salesmanship. For the third time I stated my 
errand, and he turned from me a little disgusted 
and called another gentleman who came up and 
started to give me another lecture on the sub- 

135 



136 THE SMILE 



ject of efficiency. A little impatiently I inquired 
whether they had the book that was advertised. 
He looked at me in disgust, and I was about to 
pass out, when a young clerk arose in a very simple 
manner and said he would try to find the book. 
He returned in a few moments with it, and I 
went out a sadder but a wiser man. 

With the exception of the humbler clerk — a 
stenographer or typewriter or bookkeeper— it was 
really the worst example of salesmanship that I 
ever saw, and I have seen some pretty bad ex- 
amples in different cities of the world. 

What is the real secret of salesmanship? It is 
no affected grin, no artificial or affected manner. 
It is no tremendous theories. It is a readiness to 
serve, simple attention and listening to what the 
other says, sympathetically endeavoring to give 
the person what he wishes. If we realize that, 
we can give him the information that he seeks. 
It is a question of coming into sympathetic touch 
with other men. The whole secret of it is found 
in the simplicity, sincerity and genuineness of 
the human smile. 

If anyone can be taught to come into sym- 
pathetic touch with his fellow-men, and be able to 
think with them, to offer his services and listen to 
what another has to say, if he can be taught to 
smile genuinely, sincerely and naturally, he will 
get more of a key to salesmanship than all these 
profound courses and exaggerated theories can 
give. In our day we have so overworked the word 
" efficiency " that some people say they wish they 
might never hear it again. 

The one secret of success is simplicity. Not a 
conventional smile, one that has lost its meaning, 
but one resulting from a sincere desire to serve. 



THE SMILE AND SUCCESS 137 

The great thing that makes us successful in 
life is the same thing that makes us happy. That 
which develops the sympathetic side of our char- 
acter will transform the smile into a bearing. 
Only this morning I stepped into an electric car to 
go down town. There was no one in it but the 
conductor, and I made a remark to him about the 
weather. It was a very commonplace remark, 
certainly it gave no information, and had the same 
shallowness of all such remarks about the weather. 
But I was glad, for my good friend looked at me 
with a sympathetic smile and said, " Yes, we can 
hardly expect July weather this time of year. I 
don't see any mosquitoes flying around." 

That hearty remark and smile made me happier 
all the day. 

Really, something may be said for people's talk- 
ing about the weather. If it breaks the ice of 
modern conventionality, it may be a good thing. 

Certainly the simple greetings between neigh- 
bors do not deserve the sarcasm which is usually 
poured out upon the common-placisms about the 
weather. 

Simple as a smile is, it reveals some of the 
deepest feelings of the human heart. A smile is 
a recognition of our own individuality, a joyous 
realization of our identity ; it manifests the attitude 
of our being toward our fellow-men, toward life 
and all things. It means sympathy, love, joy, 
fellowship, willingness to receive as well as willing- 
ness to give that which is good. 



xvin 

HIGHER FUNCTIONS AND INFLUENCES 

So intertwined is the human smile with human 
endeavor, human character, that almost innu- 
merable are the points which might be narrated, 
upon which a study of the smile throws light. 

Think what a right understanding of the point 
of view means in the elevation of the race. What 
a great gain it would be if we could appreciate the 
point of view of the Oriental. This is the one 
thing to which man must come and he must come 
to it through the appreciation of human art, of 
human poetry and the study of the depths of hu- 
man experience as revealed in expression. Then 
the races may so understand each other and enter 
into so much sympathy that the Federation of the 
World will be realized and universal peace will 
come. 

Americans have boasted greatly of being able 
to enter into sympathetic touch with all the world. 
It was an American admiral who sailed in and 
brought the Japanese into touch with the modern 
world. But the Japanese brought something 
which the whole civilized world should properly 
prize. Only a few have devoted themselves in- 
tensely to the understanding of their great art; 
their subtle poetry, and the depth and intensity 
of their character. 

One of my most honored classmates, nearly 
forty years ago, was a Japanese gentleman, who 

138 



FUNCTIONS AND INFLUENCES 139 

has done great service to his country, and is now 
a most prominent member of the House of Lords. 
He wrote in my notebook once this beautiful little 
poem: 

" Four seas, all brothers." 

" Only four words," you say. " Can you call a 
single line a poem? " someone asks. Yes, it is a 
poem complete, and one who will pause and really 
think may get the Japanese point of view and 
realize how great a poem it is, its shortness adding 
not only to its sublimity but to the depth of its 
meaning and the impression it produces upon us. 

The four seas around Japan broaden out into 
one great ocean. So he, an Oriental, and I an 
Occidental, different in training and temperament, 
down deep in our hearts were brothers. So all 
nations, though seemingly so different and nar- 
rowed into such different channels, yet as we 
penetrate into the depths of their hearts, all are 
brothers. 

I have listened to lectures on Japanese art 
which totally failed to realize the first step toward 
its appreciation. 

A great art critic once wrote: " No one can do a 
man a greater service than to give him a new 
point of view." This is true not only in art but in 
life, not only of individuals but of nations. 

There have been smiles that have gone over a 
whole nation. There have been frowns that have 
been caught up by a whole race. Alas, who can 
measure race prejudice, its depth and degrada- 
tion, or realize its cost and unhappiness. 

A war between mighty nations, a war of long 
years costing billions of dollars and destroying 
millions of lives, may hang upon a smile or a frown ! 



140 THE SMILE 



The narrow smile of selfishness and egotism, 
of self-satisfaction, of pleasure at other's pain, 
these are passing away. The time is coming, if it 
is not already here, when a smile can be felt over 
the whole world, shared in by all peoples, nations, 
tongues and languages. 

There have been periods in the history of the 
Christian religion which made a virtue of sadness 
and gloom. One great unbeliever, who studied 
deep into the whole history of Christianity, de- 
fined it as the " worship of sorrow." 

He was far away from the truth. Even of the 
Master it was said, " Who for the joy that was 
set before you endured the cross." It is the glory 
of the religion that it brings joy out of sorrow. It 
is victory over sorrow. It is a method of destroy- 
ing the cause of sorrow. Has anyone ever counted 
the references to joy in the New Testament? 

At the grave of Lazarus, as the eyes of the 
Master were lifted in prayer, what did He say? 
"I thank Thee." 

How often are men taught to pray " with thanks- 
giving." " Rejoice ever more, pray without ceas- 
ing." Men speak continually on the importance 
of the last half of this verse. Why forget the first? 
Thanksgiving and joy open the human heart; by 
them higher things enter into the human being. 

Joy is the fundamental principle of the universe. 
Paradoxical as it may seem, joy is the most serious 
and lasting of all emotions unless it be love. 

The smile is the sign of faith. But what is faith? 
There are three views regarding it. To some faith 
is simply belief. This is the lowest possible ele- 
ment of faith. A man may believe all kinds of 
lies and falsehoods. One may receive a telegram 
that his father is dead, and have all the agony be- 



FUNCTIONS AND INFLUENCES 141 

cause he believes the message. Another telegram 
comes telling him that it is a mistake, the house 
was burned but his father was not in the room 
where they thought he was, and he was safe. 

He who believes that faith is trying to make 
oneself believe a thing whether it be true or not 
destroys more faith than he can ever awaken. 

Some go further and say that faith is under- 
standing, that all belief is bad, necessarily bad, 
no matter whether it is belief in good or in bad. 
True faith must have a rational basis, and can 
result only from a definite and true understanding 
of principle. 

Still others hold that the primary element of 
faith is trust, others, a matter of instinct. A little 
child takes its mother's hand and feels courage and 
confidence. Faith, to such persons, is a kind of 
intuition, a yielding of self to something they feel 
to be greater than themselves. 

Still another may think that the highest element 
of faith is synonymous with loyalty, — a certain 
loyalty to creed, a loyal acceptance of the plans 
of our human nature, the plans of the whole world, 
the plan of the powers that are above us. This 
loyalty implies a determination to make a heroic 
realization, an acceptance of difficulties, not a 
whining search for something easier, not an 
antagonistic resistance to what we feel is not good. 

All of these contain elements of faith. Belief 
is merely instinctive; it is hardly worthy of faith 
until it rises to understanding. After a man under- 
stands, then he must trust; he must say, " Not my 
will but Thine " ; may that be done which is better 
and higher. I will accept that which is true at all 
hazards. 

Again, the element of loyalty is a necessary 



142 THE SMILE 



part of faith. If we are not loyal to our convic- 
tions, loyal to that which we accept, we are weak. 
We are lacking in faith and power. 

Faith may go so far that there is a loyal accept- 
ance of life and its greatest battles. 

" He that doeth the will shall know the doc- 
trine." That is, he who loyally accepts what he 
feels his duty and proceeds to give himself for 
truth in loyal devotion to the weak, in loyal sacri- 
fice for the liberty and the good of his fellow-man, 
such a man can smile and will rise into an under- 
standing of the inner mystic spirit of the uni- 
verse. 

The smile shows the universal presence of 
cheerfulness and its necessity to human nature. 
Without cheerfulness, what human success is 
possible? How can human character ever be un- 
folded and built up? 

The smile is the basis of all expression of the 
human face, and the face is the highest unfold- 
ment of an organism. If we study all expression 
of man and animals, the human face and its smile 
is the climax. 

Let us, therefore, learn a practical, every-day 
lesson for all success in life from our observation 
of the smile, and cry out as our perpetual expres- 
sion with Carlyle: 

" Give us, O give us, the man who sings at his 
work! He will do more in the same time,— he 
will do it better,— he will persevere longer. One 
is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he marches 
to music. The very stars are said to make har- 
mony as they revolve in their spheres. Wondrous 
is the strength of cheerfulness, altogether past 
calculation its powers of endurance. Efforts, to 
be permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous, 



FUNCTIONS AND INFLUENCES 143 

a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, 
beautiful because bright." 

The spirit of our time is shown by our prophets 
and poets. The work of these has become more 
and more joyous during the last few years. More 
and more do men feel that the smile indicates the 
ultimate victory of truth and right, of law and 
liberty. Among all our prophets of better things 
no truer or more hopeful interpreter can be found 
than Edwin Markham. Joy fills all of his works. 
How we are thrilled by these lines from " The 
Song of the Followers of Pan." 

"Our bursting bugles blow apart 
The gates of the cities as we go; 
We bring the music of the heart 
From secret wells in Lillimo. 

"We break in music on the morns — 
Sing of the flower to stirring roots; 
Apollo's cry is in the horns, 

And Hermes' whisper in the flutes." 

We feel his spirit in the very subjects of his 
poems. Notice especially the title of his last 
book, "The Shoes of Happiness." The "Joy 
of the Morning " is as simple and sincere as the 
voices of childhood. 

"I hear you, little bird, 
Shouting a -swing above the broken wall. 
Shout louder yet, no song can tell it all. 
Sing to my soul in the deep, still wood : 
'Tis wonderful beyond the wildest word: 
I'd tell it too if I could." 

Clinton Scollard, another poet, who has cheered 
a generation with joy and hope, has expressed 
the significance of his own work and the spirit 
of all song in " The Prolog " to the recently pub- 



144 THE SMILE 



lished collection of his poems. He has given the 
lesson in such a beautiful and artistic form that 
it will go home to every heart : 

"I spoke a traveler on the road 
Who smiled beneath his leaden load, 

* How play you such a blithesome part? ' 

* Comrade, I bear a singing heart ! ' 

"I questioned one whose path with pain 
In the grim shadows long had lain, 

* How face you thus life's thorny smart? ' 
1 Comrade, I bear a singing heart ! ' 

"I hailed one whom adversity 
Could not make bend the hardy knee, 

* How such brave seeming? Tell the art ! ' 

* Comrade, I bear a singing heart ! ' 

"Friend, blest be thou if thou canst say 
Upon the inevitable way 
Whereon we fare, sans guide or chart — 

* Comrade, I bear a singing heart ! ' " 

If someone sneers at you, smile. If you are 
taunted do not answer. If you are reviled, " revile 
not again." It requires high moral courage to 
keep still, to carry a smile upon the face, but you 
" are doing a great work and cannot come down." 
The downward road is always broad and easy; 
the upward road is straight and narrow. 

If someone wishes to throw mud, say to him : " I 
have built a bridge across all that muddy swamp. 
I could easily come down and wield a shovel. I 
think I could cover you up. But I am using my 
mud for a different purpose. Look at the lilies 
growing out of that muddy swamp. The more 
mud at the bottom—if it is only at the bottom— 
the stronger and more beautiful the lilies. If you 
throw your mud you are but exhausting your own 






FUNCTIONS AND INFLUENCES 145 

soil, destroying your own lilies. I mean to keep 
the mud where it belongs and watch my lilies 
bloom." 

Whatever misfortune may seem to come to you, 
smile on. If some great danger seems to come up 
before you, meet it with a smile. A smile is the 
truest road to victory. 

"Smile, once in a while, 

'Twill make your heart seem lighter, 
Smile, once in a while, 

Twill make your pathway brighter. 

"Life's a mirror, if we smile, 

Smiles come back to greet us; 
If we're frowning all the while 
Frowns forever meet us." 

Nixon Waterman. 



A PERSONAL AFTERWORD 

All men have ideal aspirations ; they really long 
to improve their health, to understand themselves 
better, to increase their efficiency, their satisfac- 
tions and successes. 

" The Smile " and " How to Add Ten Years to 
Your Life " are intended as helps to initiate some 
simple practical studies and exercises such as will 
aid all to realize their highest possibilities. 

Everyone in whom these books awaken any 
response will, it is hoped, feel himself or herself 
a member of a mystic brotherhood with those 
who are endeavoring to double the joys and the 
helpfulness of life. Those who wish to do so are 
invited to be enrolled as members of the Morning 
League. 

Each member of the League is expected on 
awakening in the morning to put out of his mind 
any negative thought and to turn his attention to 
something which lies in the direction of his ideals ; 
to something that will ennoble him and purify his 
consciousness, and to spend from ten to twenty 
minutes on some simple exercises. And, also, 
to spend a similar amount of time in a similar 
way on retiring at night. 

By properly using these sacred minutes of life 
which are usually devoted to negative thoughts, 
worry, or discouragement, astonishing results have 
already been secured. Health, strength, grace, 
ease of bearing, use of the voice, cheerfulness, 
interest in life in all its phases, have been greatly 
improved, 

146 



A PERSONAL AFTERWORD 147 

The suggestions are no experiment. The prin- 
ciples have been demonstrated again and again, 
not only at the School of Expression, but through 
all the ages. 

Many who have never attended the School of 
Expression have expressed a desire for the results 
which they Jhave se en accomplished in the stu- 
dents of the School. This League has been or^ 
ganized and these books written to carry some 
simple exercises into the home and to the bedside 
of everyone, to bring the work and the spirit of 
the School to all. 

Every method of training, in fact, every educa- 
tional institution must be tested by direct applica- 
tion to everyday life. I have often said that the 
School of Expression is a state of mind rather 
than a place. This has been taken as a joke, but 
it was serious. 

The endowment of the School of Expression 
which has been contributed by Sir Henry Irving 
and Prof. Alexander Melville Bell and others, is 
small. Our humble rooms, much as we love 
them, are inadequate. Anyone who looks at these 
as the institution makes a great mistake. 

The greatest endowment of the School of Ex- 
pression can never be localized; few can realize 
it. It is the loyalty, the fidelity to principles of 
those it has trained. The great work in life that 
these are doing, its methods, its exercises, and 
the use of these in all parts of the world, the help 
it has given and is giving is, in reality, its endow- 
ment. 

These books have been written and presented 
to the School, — not merely to the Trustees, or to 
the Executive Committee, nor even to the gradu- 
ates, but to all who have in any way shared in 



148 A PERSONAL AFTERWORD 

what the School of Expression embodies. While 
these books have been written to increase the 
endowment, to erect a more adequate home, — a 
higher purpose is to increase the number of its 
friends, to widen the interest in its function in 
education and to allow all to share in the bene- 
ficial effects of its methods of training. 

Last year someone went through the records to 
find out how many had been taught during one 
year and where they came from. It was found that 
three hundred and fifteen had been taught and 
these came from forty-three states and six prov- 
inces of Canada, and from two foreign countries. 
Perhaps no institution of its size reaches such a 
widely extended territory. The influence of the 
School is not small. It is a richly endowed in- 
stitution if we take endowment in the true sense 
of the interest awakened in its work. 

The aims of these books may be intimated as, 
first, an endeavor to reach all those who have 
been trained and inspire them to go forward, to 
continue faithful to their principles and their own 
work of self-development; to bring all these into 
a greater unity of endeavor; to make themselves 
feel a part of the little institution; to give them 
something that they can do, not only for the good 
of the institution, but of themselves and of the 
world; to reach those who know something of its 
work and give them the privilege of sharing in the 
benefits of the institution; and, last of all, to se- 
cure permanency, a more adequate home, and a 
larger endowment for this school which is con- 
sidered the head-quarters for the advancement of 
an important department of education. 

We have before us as a kind of objective motto 
—"$100,000 from 100,000 people." But we do 



A PERSONAL AFTERWORD 149 

not ask this as a gift. We propose to give every- 
one who joins our League more than the worth 
of their money. 

The price of the books, for example, is lower 
than is usually charged for such books. It is 
to be hoped that by the number sold we may 
add something from the net returns to the en- 
dowment fund. Some of us hold before us, also, 
a picture of a row of pennies one step apart ex- 
tending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 
Hudson's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico as a kind of 
mark for the little school which some regard as 
too small to write its name. 

You, Reader, are invited to share in our en- 
deavors. The money is not the main thing. We 
are endeavoring to improve voices, grace and ease 
of the body, flexibility of the mind, dramatic in- 
sight into the motives of one's fellow-men, and 
the stimulation of all those powers concerned in 
the sympathetic participation in the life of all the 
members of our race which bring greater satisfac- 
tion and success. Keep, therefore, the money 
part in the background, and endeavor to begin 
efforts to realize your own higher ideals and to 
awaken others at the same time to recognize the 
necessity of organization, of higher unity, of an 
objective embodiment of our ideals in a building, 
an endowed institution that will stand for a pe- 
culiar and unique work which has come to us and 
is for the good of mankind. 

If you wish to join the Morning League send the 
names of at least ten persons who need the work, 
or who will enjoy being members of such a band, 
or who are interested in any way in our endeavors. 
Write me for information, and, if you wish, send 
the price of one or more of the books. Address 



150 A PERSONAL AFTERWORD 

Office of Morning League, Room 301, Pierce 
Building, Copley Square, Boston. 

The League invites you not only to become a 
member but a leader. A member is one who 
works especially for self -improvement ; a leader 
is one who wishes also to share actively in extend- 
ing the influence of the League and in doing some 
special work to carry out its aims. 

" The Smile " will be ready August 16. " How 
to Add Ten Years to Your Life," August 25. Each 
of these books will be 75c. 

" Browning and the Dramatic Monologue " and 
"Spoken English" are both $1.10 to members 
of the League. 

Write to me or to the School of Expression, 
Morning League, 301 Pierce Building, Copley 
Square, Boston, Mass. 



The Morning League of the School of Expression 

is a band of the students, graduates and friends of the School 
of Expression who are trying to keep their faces toward the 
morning. 

If you wish to join, when you wake GET UP OUT OF THE 
RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED, that is, stretch, expand, breathe 
deeply and laugh. Fill with joyous thoughts and their active 
expressions the first minutes of the day. 

Note the effect, and consider yourself initiated. 

Try as far as possible EVERY DAY to realize the League's 

UNFOLDMENT SUGGESTIONS 

1. SMILE whenever tempted to frown; look for and enjoy the best around 
you. 

2. THINK, feel or realize something in the direction of your ideals and, 
in some way, unite your ideals with your everyday work and play. 

3. SEE, hear or read, i. e., receive an impression from something beautiful 
in nature, art, music, poetry, literature or the lives of your fellowmen. 

4. EXPRESS the best that is in you and awaken others to express the best 
in them. 

5. SERVE some fellow being by listening, by kind look, tone, word or deed. 

6. SHARE in some of the great movements for the betterment of the race. 
That is, use your principles of expression to help in such movements as: 

1. Expression in Life (text book, "The Smile"); 2. Expression and Health 
(text book, "How to Add Ten Years to Your Life"); 3. Expression and Educa- 
tion in the Nursery; Mothers' Clubs; 4. Voice in the Home; 5. Reading in the 
Public Schools; 6. Speaking in High Schools and Colleges; 7. Speaking Clubs; 

8. Browning Clubs (text book, "Browning and the Dramatic Monologue"); 

9. Dramatic Clubs; 10. Religious Societies; 11. Boy Scouts; 12. Campfire Girls; 
13. Peace Movements; 14. Women's Clubs; and Suffrage Organizations; 
15. Reforms; 16. Teachers' Clubs; 17. School of Expression Summer Terms; 
18. Preparation for the School of Expression; 19. Home Studies; 20. Advanced 
Steps of the School of Expression. 

Send your name and address with ten nominations for 
members with $1.50 for the two League text books, "The 
Smile " and " How to Add Ten Years to Your Life," and 
you will be recorded a member. One set of books will do for 
a family, other books at teachers' or introductory prices. 
There are no fees. The entire net returns from the League 
books will be devoted to the endowment of the School of 
Expression, the Home of the League. 

Write frankly and freely asking any counsel, and making 
any suggestions to the President of the League. 

Dr. S. S. CURRY, 307 Pierce Bldg. 

Copley Square, Boston, Mass. 



MORNING LEAGUE QUESTIONS FOR REPORT 

Text-books — " The Smile " and " How to Add Ten Years to 
Your Life " 

Those who will study these books carefully and report 
the results of their practice and self-studies, or answer any 
of the following questions will receive a personal letter of 
advice. It is not necessary to repeat the questions. Simply 
use figures. 

1. What is your occupation or profession? 

2. How many hours a day do you work? 

3. How many hours a day do you play? 

4. Do you work and play regularly? 

5. Do you enjoy your work, that is, do you unite the spirit 

of your play with your work? 

6. What do you honestly regard as your greatest hindrance 

in life? 

7. Have you been able to smile when tempted to frown? 

8. Have you, with Socrates, controlled some feeling by ex- 

pressing the opposite? 

9. Can you look upon difficulties as opportunities? 

10. In the study of your own inner life have you found the 

" Great Divide "? See page 38. 

11. Do you know what it means to be " led by the spirit"? 

12. Do you think more over your hopes and helps than over 

your hindrances? 

13. Do you enjoy talking about your difficulties and troubles? 

14. How far does the spirit of the smile penetrate your life? 

15. Does the smile predominate in your intercourse with 

others? 

16. How many hours are you out of doors each day? 

17. Do you positively enjoy intercourse with Nature? 

18. In what phase of Nature study are you most interested? 

19. Do you take regular walks and have direct contact with 

Nature? 

20. Do you feel your courage increase in meeting difficulties? 

21. Do you take more interest in the weaknesses or in the 

strong points of people? 

(For other questions, see " How to Add Ten Years to Your 
Life ") 



Province Of Expression. Principles and method 

of developing delivery. 

An Introduction to the study of the natural languages, and 
their relation to art and development. By S. S. Curry, Ph.D., 
Litt.D. $1 .50 ; to teachers, $1 .20, postpaid. 

Your volume is to me a very wonderful book, — it is so deeply philosophic, 
and so, exhaustive of all aspects of the subject. ... No one can read your 
book without at least gaining a high ideal of the study of expression. You have 
laid a deep and strong foundation for a scientific system. And now we wait 
for the superstructure. — Professor Alexander Melville Bell. 

It is a most valuable book, and ought to be instrumental in doing much 
good.— Professor J. W. Churchill, D.D. 

A book of rare significance and value, not only to teachers of the vocal arts, 
but also to all students of fundamental pedagogical principle. In its field I 
know of no work presenting in an equally happy combination philosophic 
insight, scientific breadth, moral loftiness of tone, and literary felicity of ex- 
position. — William F. Warren, D.D., LL.D., of Boston University. 

Lessons in Vocal Expression. Th e expressive 

modulations of 

the voice developed by studying and training the voice and 
mind in relation to each other. Eighty -six definite problems 
and progressive steps. By S. S. Curry, Ph.D., Litt.D. $1.25; 
to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

It ought to do away with the artificial and mechanical styles of teaching. — 
Henry W. Smith, A.M., Professor of Elocution, Princeton University. 

Through the use of your text-book on vocal expression, I have had the past 
term much better results and more manifest interest on the subject than ever 
before. — A. H. Merrill, A.M., late Professor of Elocution, Vanderbilt University. 

The subject is handled in a new and original manner, and cannot fail to 
revolutionize the old elocutionary ideas. — Mail and Empire, Toronto. 

It is capital, good sense, and real instruction. — W. E. Huntington, LL.D., 
Ex-President of Boston University. 

Imagination and Dramatic Instinct. Func- 

■ — ■ ■ tionof 

the imagination and assimilation in the vocal interpretation 
of literature and speaking. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D. $1.50; 
to teachers, $1.20, postpaid. 

Dr. Curry well calls the attention of speakers to the processes of thinking 
in the modulation of the voice. Every one will be benefited by reading his 
volumes. . . . Too much stress can hardly be laid on the author's ground 
principle, that where a method aims to regulate the modulation of the voice 
by rules, then inconsistencies and lack of organic coherence begin to take the 
place of that sense of life which lies at the heart of every true product of art. 
On the contrary, where vocal expression is studied as a manifestation of the 
processes of thinking, there results the truer energy of the student's powers 
and the more natural unity of the complex elements of his expression. — Dr. 
Lyman Abbott, in The Outlook. 

Address: Book Dept., School of Expression, 306 Pierce Bldg., 
Copley Square, Boston, Mass. 



Mind and Voice. Principles underlying all phases of 
■ Vocal Training. The psychological 

and physiological conditions of tone production and scientific 
and artistic methods of developing them. A work of vital 
importance to every one interested in improving the qualities 
of the voice and in correcting slovenly speech. 456 pages. 
By S. S. Curry, Litt.D. $1.50, postpaid. To teachers, $1.25, 
postpaid. 

It is indeed a masterly and stimulating work.— Amos R. Wells, Editor Chris- 
tian World. 

It is a book that will be of immense help to teachers and preachers, and to 
others who are using their vocal organs continuously. As an educational 
work on an important theme, the book has a unique value. — Book News 
Monthly. 

There is pleasure and profit in reading what he says. — Evening Post (Chi- 
cago). 

Fills a real need in the heart and library of every true teacher and student 
of the development of natural vocal expression. — Western Recorder (Louis- 
ville). 

Get it and study it and you will never regret it. — Christian Union Herald 
(Pittsburg). 

Foundation of Expression. Fundamentals of a 

psychological method 

of training voice, body, and mind and of teaching speaking and 
reading. 236 problems; 411 choice passages. A thorough 
and practical text-book for school and college, and for private 
study. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, 
postpaid. 

It means the opening of a new door to me by the master of the garden. — 
Frank Putnam. 

Mastery of the subject and wealth of illustration are manifest in all your 
treatment of the subject. Should prove a treasure to any man who cares 
for effective public speaking. — Professor L. O. Brastow, Yale. 

Adds materially to the author's former contributions to this science and art, 
to which he is devoting his life most zealously. — Journal of Education. 

May be read with profit by all who love literature. — Denis A. McCarthy, 
Sacred Heart Review. 

It gets at the heart of the subject and is the most practical and clearest 
book on the important steps in expression that I have ever read.— Edith W. 
Moses. 

How splendid it is; it is at once practical in its simplicity and helpfulness 
and inspiring. Every teacher ought to be grateful for it. — Jane Herendeen, 
Teacher of Expression in Jamaica Normal School, N. Y. 

Best, most complete, and up-to-date. — Alfred Jenkins Shriver, LL.B., 
Baltimore. 

Public speakers and especially the young men and women in high schools, 
academies, and colleges will find here one of the most helpful and sug- 
gestive books by one of the greatest living teachers of the subject, that 
was ever presented to the public— John Marshall Barker, Ph.D., Professor 
in Boston University. 

Address : Book Dept., School of Expression, 306 Pierce Bldg., 
Copley Square, Boston, Mass. 



Browning and the Dramatic Monologue. 

Nature and peculiarities of Browning's poetry. How to un- 
derstand Browning. The principles involved in rendering the 
monologue. An introduction to Browning, and to dramatic 
platform art. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D., $1.25; to teachers, 
$1.10, postpaid. 

It seems to me to attack the central difficulty in understanding and reading 
Robert Browning's poetry. ... It opens a wide door to the greatest poetry of 
the modern age. — The Rev. John R. Gow, President of the Boston Browning 
Society. 

A book which sheds an entirely new light on Browning and should be read 
by every student of the great master; indeed, everyone who would be well in- 
formed should read this book, which will interest any lover of literature. — 
Journal of Education. 

Spoken English. A method of co-ordinating impres- 

sion and expression in reading, 

conversation, and speaking. It contains suggestions on the 
importance of observation and adequate impression, and 
nature study, as a basis to adequate expression. The steps 
are carefully arranged for the awakening of the imagina- 
tion and dramatic instinct, right feeling, and natural, spon- 
taneous expression. 320 pages. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D., 
Ph.D. Price, $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

Every page had something that caught my attention. You certainly have 
grasped the great principle of vocal expression. — Edwin Markham. 

Those who aim at excelling in public utterance and address may well possess 
themselves of this work. — Journal of Education. 

The specialist in reading will wish to add it to his book-shelf for permanent 
reference. — Normal Instructor. 

A masterly presentation of ideas and expression as applied in a wide range 
of excellent selections.— The World's Chronicle. 

Little Classics for Oral English. A compan- 

ion to Spok- 
en English. The problems correspond by sections with 
Spoken English. The books may be used together or sep- 
arately. The problems are arranged in the form of ques- 
tions which the student can answer properly only by rightly 
rendering the passages. It is a laboratory method for spoken 
English, to be used by the first year students in High School 
or the last years of the Grammar School. 384 pages. By 
S. S. Curry, Litt.D. Price, $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid. 

I am using Little Classics for Oral English in two classes and believe it is 
the most satisfactory text that I have used. The students seem to be able to 
get easily the principles from your questions and problems. — Elva M. Forn- 
crook, St. Nor. Sch., Kalamazoo, Mich. 

A fine collection of fine things especially suited to young people. Every 
teacher of reading and English in our secondary schools ought to have the 
book. — Prof. Lee Emerson Bassett, Leland Stanford University, Cal. 

Address: Book Dept., School of Expression, 306 Pierce Bldg., 
Copley Square, Boston, Mass. 



What Students and Graduates Think 
of the School of Expression 

"We know that there is something BIG here. If only we can 
get it out to the world." — Caroline A. Hardwick (Philosophic 
Diploma), Instructor in Reading and Speaking, Wellesley 
College. 

"At no other institution is it possible to secure the training 
one secures at the School of Expression. It is far broader 
than a mere training for speaking. It is a fundamental train- 
ing for life." — Florence E. Lutz (Philosophic Diploma), 
Instructor in Pantomime, New York City. 

"The School of Expression taught me how to LIVE. I 
think its training of the personality is its greatest work."— 
F. M. Sargent (Dramatic Artist's Diploma). 

"I feel deeply indebted to the School for some of the best 
and most lasting inspiration I have received for my own work 
as a teacher of my fellow-men." — Luella Clay Carson, Pres. 
of Mills College. 

"The success I have attained in my profession as a reader, I 
owe directly to the advanced methods of the School of Ex- 
pression." — Caroline Foye Flanders (Artistic Diploma), 
Public Reader, Manchester, N. H. 

"The School of Expression of Boston is the most thorough 
and best in the country. It is different from all other schools. 
I wish I could talk to any who intend taking a course of study. 
— I would say, Go to the School of Expression and if there is 
anything in you, they will bring it out ; they will teach you to 
know youself ; they will show you what you are in comparison 
with what you may become, and they will begin with the cause 
and start from the bottom." — Hamilton Colman, Member 
Richard Mansfield Co. 

"When I was your student you held before me intellectual 
and ethical ideals which I am still trying to realize." — Charles 
L. White, D.D., Ex-President Colby College. 

"The same principles of education which have installed 
manual training in public schools are even more applicable to 
the training of men's souls to rational self-expression. Dr. 
Curry will some day be recognized to have been an educational 
philosopher for having championed principles no less true of 
the spoken word than of every form of creative self-expres- 
sion." — Dean Shailer Mathews, University of Chicago. 

"The whole world ought to learn about the School of Ex- 
pression and your discoveries." — Rev. J. Stanley Durkee 
(Speaker's Diploma), Boston. 



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